"She has to challenge Julianna Pena" - Michael Bisping wants Valentina Shevchenko to fight the bantamweight champion if 'Bullet' beats Taila Santos
![Michael Bisping (left) wants Valentina Shevchenko (right) to fight Julianna Pena (center). [Michael Bisping image via YouTube/michaelbisping]](https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2022/05/30d09-16530722293520-1920.jpg?w=500)
UFC Hall of Famer Michael Bisping wants Valentina Shevchenko to challenge Julianna Pena if 'Bullet' successfully defends her title against Taila Santos at UFC 275.
In a recent video posted to his YouTube channel, Bisping was seen giving his predictions for the upcoming UFC 275 fight event. The pay-per-view will take place on June 11 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang.
At one point during the video, the former middleweight champion also discussed Shevchenko's title defense against Taila Santos. Bisping feels that if 'Bullet' beats Santos, she should fight bantamweight champion Julianna Pena next:
"If [Valentina Shevchenko] continues to fight in this fashion, I don't know what she is gonna do. She has to challenge Julianna Pena, if Julianna is still the champion... Champ comes down and fights Shevchenko at 130[pounds]. Yeah, there you go. I said that. Call me stupid, still, this might be the people's main event."
Check out Michael Bisping give his predictions for UFC 275:
Shevchenko will defend her title against Taila Santos for the seventh time at UFC 275. The 34-year-old was crowned the UFC's first women's flyweight champion after a unanimous decision victory over Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 231. The Kyrgyzstan native currently holds a professional MMA record of 22 wins and three losses.
Meanwhile, Taila Santos is on a four-fight winning streak. The Brazilian currently has a professional record of 19 wins and a solitary loss that came at UFC Fight Night 144 to Mara Romero Borella.
Valentina Shevchenko has no intentions of entering the boxing ring
UFC women's flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko has made it clear that she is not planning for a transition to boxing anytime in the future.
'Bullet' is of the view that boxing is on the wane barring a few big names. She also feels that there is a huge gap between women's MMA and women's boxing.
Speaking to James Lynch in an exclusive interview for Sportskeeda MMA, Shevchenko had this to say:
"Katie Taylor, she's so long time in boxing and she's fighting a lot. But female boxing, it's kind of like there's a huge gap between MMA and boxing, I mean, female boxing and MMA. So I consider, why I should step back in my career and do it? And I had so much experience in professional boxing and Olympic boxing so I know what is that. And I know it's not a big problem to fight there."
You can check out Shevchenko's interview with Sportskeeda MMA below: