Valentina Shevchenko believes her options aren’t limited when it comes to the stand-up game.
Shevchenko will do battle with former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) strawweight ruler Joanna Jedrzejczyk this Saturday night (Dec. 8). They will clash for the vacant women’s flyweight championship. Shevchenko vs. Jedrzejczyk will serve as UFC 231‘s co-main event.
“Bullet” Feels She Has More Options Than Jedrzejczyk
Shevchenko is actually 3-0 against Jedrzejczyk, but those bouts were contested in Muay Thai. Still, Shevchenko feels it’s a huge advantage to her since her opponent isn’t known for her grappling. “Bullet” told MMA Weekly that she has more options available to her in the stand-up:
“Of course my base and my favorite thing is striking and I will do a lot of striking because I love this game. Joanna she’s a perfect striker and she goes forward every time and she’s good with her hands but I can do long distance striking, short distance striking. I can do back fists, spinning kicks, I have more options and I can show the better striking.”
Shevchenko was supposed to receive a title opportunity against Nicco Montano back in September at UFC 228. Those plans went awry when Montano failed to tip the scales due to weight cutting issues. As a result, Montano was stripped of the gold.
MMA News is set to provide live coverage of UFC 231. We’ll have live results, highlights, and post-fight tidbits. Be sure to join us on Friday for the weigh-ins as well.
Do you think Joanna Jedrzejczyk can surprise Valentina Shevchenko on Saturday night?
