MMA Preview – Valentina Shevchenko vs Priscila Cachoeira at UFC Fight Night 125
Date: Sunday 3rd February, 1am (UK)
Location: Belém, Brazil
Venue: Arena Guilherme Paraense
The ‘Bullet’ Valentina Shevchenko has been forced to go back to the drawing board after losing her championship fight and rematch with Amanda Nunes. It was a controversial decision which Shevchenko feels she got robbed of but nevertheless she has re-evaluated her quest for gold and it involves dropping down to the new flyweight division.
This is certainly her more natural weight after being undersized at 135 lbs and she is heavily touted to win the 125 lb title, currently held by Nicco Montano. She is one of the most talented fighters in all of MMA as a master in Taekwondo, Muay Thai, Judo, Boxing, Kickboxing and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and we can’t help but think the dropdown to flyweight is just part of her plan for another shot at the bantamweight championship.
The first stage of her plan is getting past a UFC debutant who is unbeaten with proven knockout power. Priscila Cachoeira’s long awaited entrance to the UFC comes on home soil and as the heavy underdog, she has all the motivation to cause the upset and put her name in the hat for new flyweight title contenders.
Flyweight is the perfect weight class for Shevchenko so if it is possible, we may see an even more improved version which is an intimidating prospect. Cachoeira, however, has competed as low as 121 lbs and as high as 145 lbs and without a loss and four knockouts to her name, she will not be intimidated. She is a brawler and will hope Shevchenko obliges which will be a dangerous game plan with the weapons at the Bullet’s disposal.
The new weight class is the key stat as it would be fascinating to see how these ladies perform and who ever is the more impressive will unearth a contender for Montano’s title. See below for the statistical breakdown:
Striking and grappling stats sourced via FightMetric.
