Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Shevchenko foils Holm in latest UFC surprise
Women’s bantamweight class scrambled anew
Chaos continues to reign in the UFC women’s bantamweight division.
Valentina Shevchenko won the final four rounds to gain a unanimous decision over former champion Holly Holm in the main event of UFC on Fox 20 at United Center in Chicago.
Shevchenko consistently found a landing spot for her counter right hook as a frustrated Holm too often tried to attack from the outside.
“I worked for this fight very hard with all my heart for this fight. I was very excited. It is very important in my career,” said Shevchenko, a former professional Muay Thai world champion from Peru, via Kyrgyzstan. “My strategy was to do everything I know to put all my heart and all my power and do everything I learned during the many years of training in martial arts into the fight and I did it today.”
Holm never found an answer. She scored a knockdown in the first round, but couldn’t finish Shevchenko and was left chasing and reaching for much of the fight.
“We knew she was a counterpuncher and we were ready for that,” Holm said. “She is tough and I knew that. What can you do? I know it was a competitive fight and I could have done more. I’m disappointed in myself and take nothing away from her. She was a very tough opponent. “I have no excuses.” The division has been shaken up since Holm uncrowned Ronda Rousey in November. Holm lost the belt to Miesha Tate in March and Tate was defeated by Amanda Nunes at UFC 200 on July 9.
Holm appeared set to earn another title shot with a victory, but instead suffered a second consecutive defeat. While Shevchenko called out Nunes after the win, she already lost a unanimous decision to the current champion in March.
“I won the first fight with (Shevchenko) by unanimous decision. If I fight her again I will beat her again this time very clean,” Nunes posted on Twitter afterward. “I feel she needs to prove herself a little more. I think Julianna Pena vs. Shevchenko. Winner comes to me.”
Also on the card, Edson Barboza brutalized Gilbert Melendez with leg kicks to earn a unanimous decision victory in a matchup of lightweight contenders.
Barboza is 3-1 in his last four fights, while Melendez, a former Strikeforce champion, is 1-4 since joining the UFC.
Heavyweight prospect Francis Ngannou knocked out newcomer Bojan Mihajlovic in the first round.
Ngannou dropped Mihajlovic with a body shot and the referee stopped the fight after Mihajlovic turtled on the canvas even though he appeared to be blocking the onslaught of hammerfists by Ngannou, who is 3-0 with three first-round knockouts since signing with the UFC.
Women’s strawweight veteran Felice Herrig returned after more than a year away from action because of personal issues to score a first-round submission win over Kailin Curran.
Former World Extreme Cagefighting bantamweight champion Eddie Wineland knocked out Frankie Saenz in the third round to highlight the preliminary card. Wineland won for the first time since January 2014, dropping Saenz with a right hand to start the finishing sequence.
Darren Elkins, Kamaru Usman and Michel Prazeres all won unanimous decisions on the televised portion of the preliminary card.
Featherweight Jason Knight earned a split-decision win over Jim Alers and heavyweight Luis Henrique submitted Dmitry Smoliakov in the second round. Also, Alex Oliveira earned a unanimous decision over welterweight James Moontasri.