Following the conclusion of her trilogy with Alexa Grasso, flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko is ready to move on to her next challenger. Fortunately for her, in the time between her first and final encounters with Grasso, a new contender has emerged at the top of the division that she is yet to face.
French striker Manon Fiorot has won seven in a row since arriving in the UFC to mark her out as the clear and obvious next challenger for Shevchenko. In her last two fights, she beat Rose Namajunas and Erin Blanchfield who faced off with one another this past weekend in Edmonton.
After Blanchfield secured the decision win, she called out Grasso for a title eliminator whilst she waits for Fiorot to get her long deserved title shot. In a recent interview with MMA Junkie, Fiorot’s former opponent gave her thoughts on how she might fare against the champion.
Blanchfield drew attention to the size of the challenger as an interesting problem for Shevchenko to try and solve with her efficient and varied toolbox. In what many will expect to be Fiorot’s striking versus Shevchenko’s grappling, the size difference between them could end up being a crucial factor in the fight.
The champion may have previously competed as a bantamweight but she isn’t the biggest fighter in this weight class and that could be an issue for her because of how good Fiorot is at using this to her advantage.
“I think Manon can use her size. I think she’s a very big flyweight and she knows how to use her range and like her length. I think Valentina is more like dynamic and has more skills so I’m curious how Valentina is going to deal with her size because I know in the past, let’s say with like Taila, I remember complaining about how big Taila is and I feel like Manon’s significantly bigger so yeah, I think it’s a good match-up and I’m curious to see how it goes.”
