UFC flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko tallied another dominant win at UFC Uruguay, winning every round while defeating Liz Carmouche by unanimous decision.
Valentina Shevchenko’s run at flyweight coming into UFC Uruguay was consistently impressive. Dispatching each of her three opponents in her return to the 125-pound division, with two Performance of the Night bonuses along the way, Shevchenko has taken the relatively new division by storm. In her toughest flyweight fight, against former UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Shevchenko earned a solid unanimous decision win for the then-vacant flyweight title. Most recently, the champ knocked out Jessica Eye with a vicious head kick at UFC 238.
Liz Carmouche is no stranger to title-fights. The UFC and Strikeforce veteran fought for bantamweight titles in both promotions, losing to Ronda Rousey and Marloes Coenen. She’s no stranger to Shevchenko, either. The duo previously fought in Oklahoma in September of 2010. In that first meeting, Carmouche earned the TKO victory via a doctor’s stoppage. Shevchenko has since said she could’ve continued fighting, were the doctor to have let her.
Now, Shevchenko will have her chance to make good on that claim, while Carmouche will have the chance to take her title and make a flyweight run of her own. Since debuting at flyweight in December of 2017, Carmouche is 2-1, winning her last two bouts by unanimous decision.
Carmouche was active on the feet and moving well early, but ate a jab as Shevchenko walked her down in the first minute of the fight. Shevchenko stayed patient while Carmouche continued to feint and circle outside of range throughout round one. There wasn’t a lot of action in the first five minutes, but each fighter had their brief moments with leg kicks and combinations while they worked on finding the range.
Shevchenko continued to control the center of the Octagon and strike from distance in the first 90-seconds of the second round. Carmouche was moving outside well, but wasn’t throwing much offense, and giving up the center of the cage to Shevchenko throughout the second stanza. Shevchenko was more than willing to slowly move forward and throw combinations from outside of Carmouche’s striking range.
The beginning of the third round was more of the same. Carmouche tried to be more aggressive, but Shevchenko was able to maintain control of the fight and out-strike Carmouche from distance. Carmouche wasn’t attempting takedowns or changing up the fight in any way, letting the title-holder fighter her kind of fight.
Then Shevchenko landed a left straight and a leg kick that dropped Carmouche. The title-challenger then invited Shevchenko to the ground, but the champion would decline, and the fight returned to the feet. Once on the feet the duo would clinch, and Shevchenko impressively threw Carmouche to the ground. Shevchenko ended up in Carmouche’s guard, and would stay there until the round ended.
Shevchenko landed the first strikes of note in round four, throwing a sweet four-strike combination beginning with a superman punch. The duo would end up on the ground shortly thereafter, with Shevchenko landing in Carmouche’s guard. The champion held Carmouche against the cage, but due to Carmouche’s impressive defensive guard, was unable to do much of anything. Both fighters were stood up with about 90-seconds left in the round, before Shevchenko landed a spinning-back fist that put Carmouche on the ground once more. Shevchenko then pounced on Carmouche and held top position for the rest of the round.
After more of the same to open the fifth round, Carmouche shot for a takedown attempt. Shevchenko was able to stuff the shot, and work herself into top position in Carmouche’s guard two minutes into the final five minutes of the fight. Shevchenko was able to hold top position for the rest of the fight, defending her belt and continuing her run of dominant flyweight performances.
The champ drops Carmouche in round 3! #UFCUruguay pic.twitter.com/GWqjw9QAuj
— UFC (@ufc) August 11, 2019
Result: Valentina Shevchenko def. Liz Carmouche by unanimous decision (50-45×3)
Check out all of the results from UFC Uruguay here!
