"Big opportunity for the fighter to gain extra weight" - Valentina Shevchenko discusses how Taila Santos may have gained an edge on the ground in their fight at UFC 275
UFC women's flyweight champ Valentina Shevchenko recently opened up about her recent fight against Taila Santos.
Valentina Shevchenko took on Santos at UFC 275 with the Polish fighter's flyweight title on the line. 'Bullet' successfully defended her title for the seventh time via a split decision victory over the Brazilian.
However, many fans and MMA pundits criticised the scoring of the match, claiming that the win belonged to Santos.
In a recent appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, 'Bullet' talked about the two-day gap between weigh-ins and matchday. She claimed that this may have resulted in some discrepancies in Santos' weight at UFC 275.
The Polish fighter mentioned that Santos' extra weight might have given her an edge in her ground game against Shevchenko in the fight. 'Bullet' opined that the Brazilian may have weighed more than her and said:
"Maybe is the factor that in Singapore it was...we had almost two days, between like weigh-in and fight. And this is kind of like big opportunity to the fighter gain extra weight, double weight. Maybe that was the factor because all my strokes were I threw down, I initiated that strokes, I threw her..."
She added:
"And this is a weight factor. Like she can use this extra weight to get on top or something like that. Maybe it's this factor. Maybe two extra days is like not good...especially for me because I am not gaining too much. And the fight day, when you come to the venue...my weight was 132 pounds."
You can check out the full episode of The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani below:
Miesha Tate gives her opinion on Valentina Shevchenko's performance at UFC 275
At the UFC Long Island media day, Tate opined that Shevchenko has had better performances than her recent fight against Taila Santos at UFC 275. However, 'Cupcake' praised Shevchenko's fighting abilities, calling her an "absolute beast."
The former women's bantamweight champ also expressed her interest in taking on 'Bullet' and claimed that she is the one who can defeat Shevchenko.
Sharing her opinion on Valentina Shevchenko, Miesha Tate said:
"I don't think it was her best one. I know she had an injury and everybody kind of has those fights that aren't their best ones but I know what Valentina looks like at her best. She is an animal, she is an absolute beast."
You can check out the full interview below: