Valentina Shevchenko is not all that. It was Holly that made her look awesome.

What she can't improve? She just took down Holly who Rhonda tried out grapple and failed miserably. Stop playing MMA math like that.
Shevchenko vs Kaufman was seven months ago.
Do you think she made up for a lifetime of Judo in that time?
Ronda could take down Holm just as easily if she hadn't been broken early in the fight.

It's ridiculous shertards would rather believe Shevchenko's takedowns are better than Rousey's than admitting that there was something wrong with Ronda that night.

Speaking of MMAth it is just as much MMAth claiming Ronda loses against Shev only because Sheba defeated Holly and Holly defeated Ronda.
 
I wholeheartedly disagree TS. Valentina imo has way more grounded technique in her striking. Watch Holm throw that side push kick over and over as opposed to Valentinas leg kicks. In their fight you can see the damage they did to Holm's lead leg. Valentina's ground game could use some work but against Holm it kind of cancelled out since HH's ground game is weak. Holm had the length on Valentina and didn't utilize it. Not sure what else to say at this point and time, I'll think and watch the fight again.
 
I wholeheartedly disagree TS. Valentina imo has way more grounded technique in her striking. Watch Holm throw that side push kick over and over as opposed to Valentinas leg kicks. In their fight you can see the damage they did to Holm's lead leg. Valentina's ground game could use some work but against Holm it kind of cancelled out since HH's ground game is weak. Holm had the length on Valentina and didn't utilize it. Not sure what else to say at this point and time, I'll think and watch the fight again.

Holly has tools.

She has HEART.

...but against Val, she looked "shot" quite frankly...but I can assure you that she didn't age overnight or what have you.

She just...sucked that night.

And for the 1000th time, I know that she would've super put herself in harms way had she FOUGHT, (instead of punching and kicking and feinting the air forever) but...she didn't.

She was SO hesitant and her shots were SO sparse and that made it EASY work from Val.

Holly should have jabbed and jabbed...obviously.

She should have let Val come to her for stretches of time...and moved laterally as she used her height and reach to kick Val's legs...

On and on..................
 
i ll give you that Bullet is little, and holly is one of the bigger BWs, it seems the loss to Meisha got to her head, she was gun shy.
Holly did bully her in the clinch though
 
Exactly this .. Valentina and her coach had Holly's predictable style and strikes/combos completely figured out. I believed that Val could beat Holly, and I never thought the size difference was as much of an issue as others seemed to think, but I also didn't think that Holly would end up looking completely outclassed by comparison ...

I was just watching a few UFC promo videos for the fight and noticed this interesting bit of training. Start at about 3:10 in on the video. You'll see Antonina throwing all of Holm's signature strikes including the oblique kick, the front leg side kick, and the left high kick while sparring with Valentina. It's almost unfair when she has a training partner who is that close of a physical match for her opponent and can mirror all her techniques as well. Perfectly scouted, completely figured out, and a great execution of the game plan.

 
I was just watching a few UFC promo videos for the fight and noticed this interesting bit of training. Start at about 3:10 in on the video. You'll see Antonina throwing all of Holm's signature strikes including the oblique kick, the front leg side kick, and the left high kick while sparring with Valentina. It's almost unfair when she has a training partner who is that close of a physical match for her opponent and can mirror all her techniques as well. Perfectly scouted, completely figured out, and a great execution of the game plan.



Thanks for posting this .. I had not actually seen any of these, good stuff.
 
Styles make fights. Plus, I'd agree she gives Tate and Nunes a hard time too.
 
I thought Shevchenko fought much "bigger" than her size. It was crazy to me how well she was able to control the range and appear longer than she is, especially with some of the kicks. Anyway, if Holly didn't have it so ingrained in her head to avoid the ground at all costs she probably could have muscled Valentina to the ground a few times and possibly changed the complexion of the fight.
 
i disagree that shevchenko is not all that, she is a superior martial artist.
however years of muay thai has led to a pattern of slow starts and point based fighting, i was hyped for her debut in the UFC, but dissapointed at her loss to nunes , if she can overcome ingrained bad habits and maybe get some US training in, i think she easily gets the belt and holds it.
im still not totally convinced she has the right team but i dont see her changing it.
 
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