22 November 2020

UFC women’s flyweight champion Shevchenko defends title at UFC 255 to complete incredible week for her family

Valentina Shevchenko successfully defended her women’s flyweight world title with a unanimous decision win over Jennifer Maia at UFC 255.

The 32-year-old Russian, who has not been beaten since losing to Amanda Nunes in September 2017, was awarded the victory 49-46 by all three judges.

Her win came just hours after her sister Antonina stopped Ariane Lipski in the second round on the same show.

And earlier this week, their mother Elena won a Muai Thai shadowboxing world title in a virtually-conducted competition.

Shevchenko defended her world flyweight title for the fourth time

(Zuma Press/PA Images)

"Preparing for this fight, I knew that Jennifer wouldn’t be an easy opponent," Valentina said after her win in Las Vegas.

"I knew it was going to be a good fight for the belt. I knew she was going to be tough. She’s a good fighter."

Many fight fans are now calling for a trilogy bout between Shevchenko and Nunes at bantamweight, with the Brazilian winning both of their previous clashes on the judges scorecards.

Nunes has since gone on to also secure a world title at featherweight when she beat Cris Cyborg at the end of 2018.

In the main event of the night, Deiveson Figueiredo made the first defence of his UFC men’s flyweight title with a first round victory over Alex Perez.

It took the 32-year-old Brazilian less than two minutes to submit his American counterpart and bag his fifth win in a row.

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