Is Shevchenko out of her prime?

[payton]

A 36 year old Valentina Shevchenko just won her belt back against a woman supposedly in her prime..
At this point in her career I do think shes a bit over the hill in terms of age and athleticism.
I am looking forward to seeing Shev's career and how it will progress over the next few years. Going to be interesting to see if and when she gets defeated and how.
As fans we are truly lucky to be able to see such talent on display.

 

[payton]

A hard pic of Shevchenko from 2008

 

[NoBiasJustMMA]

A 36 year old Valentina Shevchenko just won her belt back against a woman supposedly in her prime..
At this point in her career I do think shes a bit over the hill in terms of age and athleticism.
I am looking forward to seeing Shev's career and how it will progress over the next few years. Going to be interesting to see if and when she gets defeated and how.
As fans we are truly lucky to be able to see such talent on display.

Her physical prime is over but she is fighting smarter so her prime as a fighter isn't over.

 

[Only Here for Attachments]

Hopefully

 

[Takes Two To Tango]

I would believe her prime was 32/33 years old. So yes.

 

[Kyojiro Kagenuma]

She is, but she's a generational talent so she can pull shit off like that.

 

[omawho402]

Yeah, but she's still serviceable.

 

[Gigacardio]

No, it's just that Alexa is a rather bad match-up f8r her and she didn't fight smart against Taila. Those are the reasons why she lost, not because she has started to get rusty.

 

[Orochimaru 大蛇丸]

Yeah she’s definitely out of her prime

There is such a gap between her and everyone else that even out of her prime she’s still the best in the world

GOAT

 

[payton]

She is, but she's a generational talent so she can pull shit off like that.

Yeah. She was calm and collected against Grasso.

 

[payton]

Yeah she’s definitely out of her prime

There is such a gap between her and everyone else that even out of her prime she’s still the best in the world

GOAT

Yep. I'd love to see her vs Wang.

 

[payton]

Yeah, but she's still serviceable.

 

[RockyLockridge]

Nope she hit prime 2, something only a few goat mode fighters can do

 

[NoSmilez]

Valentina's timing is bit off when it comes to striking. Her go to for her past few fights is to take the fight to the ground. Her wrestling technique isn't great but she is strong enough to force the takedown.

 

[aerius]

Yes she's out of her prime, the fight vs. Andrade was the last time we saw her at full speed & strength. She was already slowing down a touch in the Lauren Murphy fight and things haven't gotten any better since then. Thing is she started with a huge advantage in speed & skill over her competition, and since she has strong fundamentals she's likely to have an Aldo-like tail end to her career where she remains competitive well past her best days.

 

[Morris88]

Yep. I'd love to see her vs Wang.

*snigger*

I'm such a child

 

[Senzo Tanaka]

She didn't look like she was missing a step. She's fighting smarter and is well rounded. A grappling heavy approach might not be entertaining but it's a smart move for older fighters. Especially when the division only has one legit wrestler.

 

[Söze Aldo]

Funny enough, male wrestlers tend to switch to becoming strikers as they leave their physical prime as wrestling is really tough on the body but Val seems to have done the opposite.

Probably related to her naturally being stronger than most other ladies there regardless of age.

 

[blaseblase]

Of course. She's 36 at 125 and has been competing in combat sports for over 2 decades. Her striking is not as effective as it once was. It can't be a coincidence that prior to Grasso she arguably lost to Santos and then did lose. She fought a safe fight on Saturday and took no risks.

 

[FreddieRoachsVoice]

Yes IMO. People confuse "out of your prime" with "at the end of your career" which are not the same thing. She's still an effective, high level fighter but I think she's no longer at her absolute peak. If a career has 5 stages, she's at a solid stage 4 atm