Valentina Shevchenko made her latest title defense as UFC women’s flyweight champion against Lauren Murphy.
The two fighters met in a bout on Saturday night (Saturday, 25, 2021) at the UFC 266 pay-per-view event from Las Vegas, Nevada at the T-Mobile Arena. Shevchenko had superior speed when throwing strikes. A slow start, but Shevchenko started to land more shots including a spinning back fist in the first round. Shevchenko scored a takedown with seconds left in the round.
Moving along to the second round, Shevchenko landed a takedown. In the fourth round, Shevchenko finished her with strikes on the ground. The fans didn’t love this fight, but Shevchenko stayed with what she does best and that was enough to easily get past Murphy.
Peep the highlights of the fight courtesy of the UFC’s official Twitter account:
Shevchenko was coming off a decision win over Jessica Andrade via TKO at the UFC 261 pay-per-view event from Jacksonville, Florida. Before that, she beat Jennifer Maia at UFC 255, scored a TKO win over Katlyn Chookagian at the UFC 247 pay-per-view event, got a decision win over Liz Carmouche at the UFC Uruguay event, and picked up a knockout win over Jessica Eye at the UFC 238 pay-per-view. Since moving back to the flyweight division, the champ was riding a seven-fight winning streak coming into the event.
Murphy went on a 5-fight winning streak to get this title shot. She TKO’d Mara Romero Borella before getting back-to-back decision wins over Andrea Lee and Roxanne Modafferi. Murphy choked out Liliya Shakirova then decisioned Joanne Calderwood.
UFC 266 Results: Alexander Volkanovski vs. Brian Ortega, Valentina Shevchenko vs. Lauren Murphy
MMA News is providing ongoing coverage of UFC 266. We’ve got you covered with live results, video highlights, and post-fight tidbits.
