Valentina Shevchenko reveals her main takeaway from Amanda Nunes' win over Megan Anderson
Valentina Shevchenko has revealed the main takeaway from Amanda Nunes’ win over Megan Anderson. Shevchenko suggested that Anderson went into the UFC 259 matchup against Nunes with a bad mindset, which is likely why she ended up losing decisively.
Reigning UFC women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko is no stranger to current UFC women’s bantamweight and featherweight champion Amanda Nunes. Shevchenko has fought Nunes twice – with Nunes winning via unanimous decision at UFC 196 in March 2016, and then via split decision at UFC 215 in September 2017.
Both fights were contested at bantamweight. The vast majority of MMA fans and experts believe that while Amanda Nunes won the first fight, the judges’ verdict in the rematch ought to have been awarded in favor of Valentina Shevchenko.
Amanda Nunes’ most recent fight witnessed her successfully defend her UFC women’s featherweight title with a spectacular first-round submission win over Megan Anderson.
On that note, speaking to James Lynch, Valentina Shevchenko addressed a myriad of topics, including Amanda Nunes’ win over Megan Anderson. Upon being asked for her thoughts on Nunes’ dominant win over Anderson at UFC 259, Valentina Shevchenko stated:
“Yeah, it was quite, very fast. You know. it’s like, at this point, some fighters, some opponents, they’re coming to the fight and you can see in their eyes – They’re here to fight. To fight till the end; doesn’t matter what; they are ready to fight and took damage and everything.”
“But some of them, they’re just going there and thinking, ‘Okay, I already lost’. And this is a bad mindset, I think, the worst what anyone can have. But it’s happening. It’s happening,” Valentina Shevchenko added, indicating that this is what happened to Megan Anderson in her UFC 259 fight against Amanda Nunes. (*H/T Sportskeeda for the transcription)
Valentina Shevchenko seemingly insinuated that while Megan Anderson may have possibly approached her UFC 259 matchup against Amanda Nunes with a bad mindset, these mistakes do happen at times.
On the heels of archrival Amanda Nunes' title defense, Valentina Shevchenko is set to defend her title against Jessica Andrade at UFC 261
UFC women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko is set to defend her title against feared KO artist and former UFC women’s strawweight champion Jessica Andrade.
Shevchenko is scheduled to face Andrade with the UFC women’s flyweight title on the line in the co-main event of UFC 261 on April 24th, 2021. Meanwhile, the UFC 261 fight card will be headlined by a UFC women’s strawweight title fight between current champion Zhang Weili and the division’s former champion Rose Namajunas.
The consensus is that should Valentina Shevchenko and Zhang Weili both win their respective matchups, a potential super-fight between the two fighters could come to fruition in the near future.