"She's got a shot but I don't think she's going to win" - Michael Bisping on Lauren Murphy's chances of defeating Valentina Shevchenko
Michael Bisping doesn't believe Lauren Murphy will beat Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 266. Bisping made his prediction for this weekend's pay-per-view co-main event in a video uploaded to his YouTube channel.
"Now you're all thinking there's no way she beats Shevchenko. Shevchenko's stronger, she's faster, she's got the momentum, she's got the ground game, she's got the confidence, she's got the swag. She's got all of that and you're absolutely right. But guess what? Valentina Shevchenko is also a human being and we can all lose. We can all get caught, we can all make mistakes, we can all lose focus and that's what this all really comes down to.
"There's a lot of distractions and if you lose focus for one second, one second can change the course of the fight. Can Lauren Murphy win this fight? She's got a shot but I don't think she's going to. I think Valentina Shevchenko will go out there and have a very dominant performance and probably get a finish, but that doesn't mean Lauren Murphy can't pull it off," said Michael Bisping.
Watch Michael Bisping give his predictions for the UFC 266 card below:
Valentina Shevchenko is understandably a massive betting favorite for her fight against Murphy. 'Bullet' is the current UFC women's flyweight champion and hasn't lost a single fight at 125 pounds. Shevchenko is also riding a seven-fight win streak into her sixth title defense.
Meanhile, Lauren Murphy's five-fight win streak has granted her the opportunity to fight for the title at UFC 266. Despite her form, Murphy instantly became a heavy underdog in the betting markets as soon as the fight was announced.
Valentina Shevchenko believes the trilogy fight against Amanda Nunes will happen at some point.
Valentina Shevchenko believes she will face Amanda Nunes in a trilogy fight at some point in the future. Shevchenko has only two losses in the UFC, both of which came against arguably the best female fighter of all time, Amanda Nunes.
The Brazilian dominated and outworked Shevchenko in their first bout at UFC 196 and won via a unanimous decision. The flyweight queen then challenged the 'Lioness' for her women's bantamweight title at UFC 215. 'Bullet' gave Nunes a tougher time in the octagon but lost via a split decision.