Valentina Shevchenko narrowly defeats Taila Santos at UFC 275
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to us tonight, June 11, 2022, for UFC 275, going down live from the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore.
The event is headlined by UFC light heavyweight champion Glover Teixeira (33-7), who aims to defend his title for the first time tonight against former Rizin light heavyweight champion Jiri Prochazka (28-3-1).
It is also co-headlined by a championship affair, this one between UFC women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko (22-3), who looks to make the seventh-straight defense of her crown tonight opposing Taila Santos (19-1).
This is perhaps the best opponent the champion has faced in some time.
Continue reading to see how this flyweight championship bout went down:
Official Result: Valentina Shevchenko def. Taila Santos via split decision (48-47, 47-48, 49-46)
Shevchenko opens up the bout with a leg kick and follows it up with a superman punch in attempt to find her range early. Santos lands a couple nice hooks to the champion, before she’s tied up along the fence.
The champion lands some nice knees to the body whilst having Santos pinned against the fence with double underhooks, but she strains for a takedown and ends up getting her back taken.
Santos is trying hard for the finish, cranking on Shevchenko’s neck and chin, but the champion makes it to the second round.
Santos wants the fight to be where she left off in round one, as she presses Shevchenko into the fence in search of a takedown. After about a minute she secures it and remains in the champions guard for a few minutes.
Shevchenko throws her legs up for submissions but is unable to secure any, and they’re stood up for inactivity.
Shevchenko secures a beautiful throw and rolls through perfectly, but Santos also counters perfectly and ends up back in the champions guard to end the second.
The champion may be down 0-2 going into the third.
Shevchenko opens up the third round looking great, striking at range, and even secures a momentary body lock trip, though Santos is right back to her feet. Midway through the round however, Santos is able to secure another takedown and take the champions back once again.
Things are very interesting going into the championship rounds.
Shevchenko opens up the fourth the same way as she opens the third, looking very sharp on the feet. She’s able to pick Santos apart the entire round, though she’s taken down in the final 15 seconds.
The champion is either down 1-3, or at best, it could possibly be 2-2 going into the fifth. She did win four minutes of that first round.
Shevchenko is out-striking Santos in the fifth as well, before she gets her back taken again. She refuses the position this time however and lands a nasty combination before securing a takedown of her own.
Shevchenko remains on top for the final three minutes of the round.
This was a close one, it really could’ve gone either way.
Valentina Shevchenko improves her record to 23-3 with this victory, securing her seventh-straight title defense, while Taila Santos falls to 19-2, both defeats coming via split decision.
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