How you give Valentina Shevchenko R1 is beyond me - Anthony Smith and Michael Bisping dissect 49-46 score, call Taila Santos 'Wolverine' for healing fast from the head-butt
Anthony Smith and Michael Bisping recently offered fans their take on Valentina Shevchenko's fight against Taila Santos. The duo agreed that the judges' interpretation of the fight was less than impressive.
Shevchenko and Santos went toe-to-toe against each other in a women's flyweight title fight, the co-main event of UFC 275, which unfolded at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore.
After five tense rounds inside the octagon, 'Bullet' was forced to rely on the judges' scorecards for the result. Judges Howard Hughes and David Lethaby scored the fight 48-47 for Shevchenko and Santos, respectively.
However, it was Clemens Werner who scored the fight 49-46 for Valentina Shevchenko, handing her the win via split decision. This rubbed several MMA fans and pundits the wrong way, including Anthony Smith and Michael Bisping.
Shevchenko and Santos go the distance! 🙌
How did you score the fight? 🤔 #UFC275 https://t.co/qHl1jh5mQg
While conversing with Bisping on the latest edition of the Believe You Me podcast, Smith offered his take on the fight, claiming that Taila Santos won the first frame of the fight without a shadow of a doubt.
He recalled how Shevchenko was dominated on the ground for over four minutes, which should have been enough for the round to be scored in Santos' favor, which would have turned the result of the fight on its head.
"The 49-46 is f***ing crazy. Like how you give [Valentina Shevchenko] round one is beyond me. She was controlled for four minutes and ten seconds. If you land one punch on your feet and then you're controlled for four minutes and ten seconds, like, you lose that round. If she doesn't touch you from the top position, you still lose that round."
Check out Anthony Smith's full interaction with Michael Bisping below:
Michael Bisping and Anthony Smith laud Taila Santos as Marvel's Wolverine
In the same interaction on the Believe You Me podcast, Smith and Bisping recalled Taila Santos and Valentina Shevchenko's clash of heads in the third and fourth rounds.
'Lionheart' and Bisping discussed how Santos recovered from the injury in real-time and reduced her swelling, jokingly comparing her to Marvel's Wolverine, who is gifted with the ability to heal from injuries rapidly.
Anthony Smith also proposed an alternative reason her swelling vanished over the course of minutes. He suggested that her swelling went down after their second head collision in the fourth round.
#UFC275
Taila Santos’ eye is swollen after a head collision with Valentina Shevchenko 😳 #UFC275 https://t.co/I1d9C77qaA
Michael Bisping, however, credited Santos' cutman for reducing her swelling to allow her to continue fighting an indomitable opponent like Shevchenko without losing her composure.
Here's what Anthony Smith had to say about Santos' injury:
"She almost healed in real time because it was f***ing shut all the way and then in the fourth it started to open and by the fifth it was completely open again... She's either f***ing wolverine or the second headbutt opened her eye up. It could be the cut man too, I guess, if we're gonna add that in."
The accidental clash of heads resulted in a broken orbital bone, prompting her to seek medical help. She is set to go under the knife in her home country of Brazil upon her return.