Valentina Shevchenko Eyes ‘Logical’ Trilogy Fight With Amanda Nunes

UFC flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko wants to complete her trilogy of fights with dual Amanda Nunes.

Shevchenko and Nunes have fought twice before at bantamweight. In 2016 at UFC 196 the Ukrainian fell to a unanimous decision defeat. A year later she was again on the wrong side of the judges call at UFC 215, suffering a split decision loss – one she does not agree with.

Speaking in Spanish on Monday’s episode of Hablemos MMA ‘Bullet’ explained that a third fight with Nunes is “logical”.

“I think it would be logical,” Shevchenko said. “She’s been going through her opponents very easily, and I think that for the future, it would be logical to have a third fight because the second fight … I didn’t lose it. I won it.”

Shevchenko’s confident things would be different in a trilogy bout and she’d finally beat ‘The Lioness’.

“This fight right now, as champion vs. champion, I think the judges will have a different outlook towards the fight,” Shevchenko said. “Three years ago in 2017 when we had our fight, they thought that just that one thing gave her the victory, and that was the takedown she got in the fifth round. She didn’t even start it – it was me who initiated. But since it was the final round, we were both slippery. She’s heavier, so I ended on bottom when I was supposed to land on top.

“That’s the only thing that gave her a small advantage in the eyes of the judges that night. But that’s how it went down, and I think it would be very logical to have that third fight between us.”

Shevchenko is trying to prevent herself from looking too far ahead with a flyweight title defence against Jennifer Maia booked in for November 21 at UFC 255.

“To be honest, I don’t know (when I’d like to fight Nunes) and I haven’t thought about it because right now I’m focused on my weight class – 125 pounds,” Shevchenko said. “All I have in mind these days is being dominant and retain my belt again and again, and that’s what I think of when I put thought in my near future. I think if this fight goes down in the future, I would definitely like to have the fans around me and the public back and not in an empty arena.” (Transcribed by MMA Junkie)

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