Valentina Shevchenko headlined her second straight UFC event at UFC On Fox 23, where she defeated Julianna Pena by second round submission via arm bar.
While she held Pena in the fight ending arm bar, Valentina caused a lot of damage to that arm.
“When I was on the ground and she started to throw punches, they weren’t hard, they weren’t effective because I was covering everything, and she didn’t hit one strong punch or anything like that,” Shevchenko said on The MMA Hour. “But when I tried to go for the submission, got her arm and put my belly down, in that moment, I felt like two or three times a click in her arm, like, ‘crack, crack, crack,’ and then I felt, ‘this is it, I have this armbar. It’s only a matter of time before she taps.’ But then, she started to protect it, so I just put a little bit of pressure and she tapped at that moment.”
Many believe the win over Pena will give Shevchenko a rematch with UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Amanda Nunes, a potential rematch that Shevchenko thinks will go a different way.
“I’m feeling a much better fighter than last time, and of course all this training and fights that I’ve had after [the first fight with Nunes] will help me to have a great fight,” Shevchenko said, “and I’m very excited, and can’t wait ’til it happens.”
Shevchenko has earned a total of three wins thus far in the UFC, defeating TUF 18 winner Julianna Pena, former UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Holly Holm and former Strikeforce Women’s bantamweight Champion Sarah Kaufman.
