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Kyrgystanian Bantamweight Valentina "The Bullet" Shevchenko seems to be on track to the UFC, having already garnered interest from Dana White himself.
A Nak muay and Kickboxer with a professional record of 56-0, Shevchenko has successfully adapted her skillset to MMA, amassing a record of 9-1.
There is some confusion about her record - A loss in MMA competition to Liz Carmouche is often counted as a Shootboxing fight and placed on her Kickboxing record, but the promotion that ran the event (C3 Fights) is an MMA promotion and there is footage available of an MMA fight that took place on the same card.
Shevchenko started her MMA career in 2003, sporadically crushing various debuting or 1-0 cans, but only recently has she expressed a desire to seriously pursue MMA. Unfortunately there is little available footage from her MMA career, so my analysis will draw mostly from her Kickboxing/Muay Thai bouts. Edit: I've received information stating that Shevchenko's opponents in her earlier career were more experienced than their fightfinder records indicate, as most of their fights took place before they were being tracked and in foreign countries.
Shevchenko is a prototypical outfighter, preferring to set up just outside of her opponent's punching range but still close enough to step in and counter kicks. Most of her favored weapons at range are typical of a southpaw kickboxer - the left straight, left kick to the body and head, and a versatile, looping right hook she uses both as a counter and a tool to close distance.
Shevchenko excels both on the outside and in the clinch. She spends little time at boxing range, instead preferring to strike directly into the clinch from outside. In order to strike into the clinch from far away without endangering herself, she'll step her lead foot in deep to the outside of her opponent's lead foot, shortening the distance her left straight needs to cover in order to land.
To set this up, she'll often circle to her left and, once her opponent begins moving with her, combine the outside step with a jab that comes at an upward trajectory, obscuring their vision and blinding them to the outside step, before hammering them with a left straight.
She'll also combine the outside step with a lead hook, thrown either with intention to land or as a hand trap, pulling her opponent's hand out of the path of her straight.
Although a versatile striker capable of pressuring when she wants to, Shevchenko prefers to let her opponents come to her and counter their attacks.
If they allow her to control the range and try to kick with her, she'll step in as they throw and counter their kicks.
If they try to force the action and pressure her, she'll counter with a looping lead hook before pivoting to the inside or outside and launching a combination in return.
She also likes to secure the clinch by dipping down on her right hook and letting it continue past the point of impact to wrap around the head, while she traps her opponent's rear arm with her head.
She's great at countering off her own kicks. She retracts her kick directly into her stance and is immediately ready to resume her attack, often throwing a punch as soon as her leg touches down. Her opponent, expecting a brief reset, presses forward and runs into a punch.
A Nak muay and Kickboxer with a professional record of 56-0, Shevchenko has successfully adapted her skillset to MMA, amassing a record of 9-1.
There is some confusion about her record - A loss in MMA competition to Liz Carmouche is often counted as a Shootboxing fight and placed on her Kickboxing record, but the promotion that ran the event (C3 Fights) is an MMA promotion and there is footage available of an MMA fight that took place on the same card.
Shevchenko started her MMA career in 2003, sporadically crushing various debuting or 1-0 cans, but only recently has she expressed a desire to seriously pursue MMA. Unfortunately there is little available footage from her MMA career, so my analysis will draw mostly from her Kickboxing/Muay Thai bouts. Edit: I've received information stating that Shevchenko's opponents in her earlier career were more experienced than their fightfinder records indicate, as most of their fights took place before they were being tracked and in foreign countries.
Shevchenko is a prototypical outfighter, preferring to set up just outside of her opponent's punching range but still close enough to step in and counter kicks. Most of her favored weapons at range are typical of a southpaw kickboxer - the left straight, left kick to the body and head, and a versatile, looping right hook she uses both as a counter and a tool to close distance.
Shevchenko excels both on the outside and in the clinch. She spends little time at boxing range, instead preferring to strike directly into the clinch from outside. In order to strike into the clinch from far away without endangering herself, she'll step her lead foot in deep to the outside of her opponent's lead foot, shortening the distance her left straight needs to cover in order to land.
Although a versatile striker capable of pressuring when she wants to, Shevchenko prefers to let her opponents come to her and counter their attacks.
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