UFC strawweight champion Weili Zhang has a long road ahead of her if she wants to fight Valentina Shevchenko.
The UFC flyweight champion is set to defend her title this weekend against Katlyn Chookagian at UFC 247. The fight will take place at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.
Weili Zhang won the flyweight title by knocking out Jessica Andrade at UFC Fight Night 157, which took place in Shenzhen, China on 31st August.
Weili Zhang vs Valentina Shevchenko?
Weili Zhang called out Valentina Shevchenko for a title fight last October. She said that she wanted to fight her because she wants to test herself against the best in business.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj7mna8VhRo&feature=emb_logo
“I definitely want to fight the best of the best, and I think Valentina is the best among the female athletes, so that’s why I want to fight her,” Weili Zhang said backstage at UFC Boston. “For my own division, Rose [Namajunas] is a very good fighter and I respect her a lot. But if the UFC wants me to fight Joanna, no problem. I can definitely beat her.”
However, Valentina doesn’t think that Weili deserves to fight her. She believes that there are a lot of other fights for Zhang at strawweight. She also believes that Zhang winning the title was by the virtue of sheer luck.
“A few months ago nobody knew the name of the Chinese girl Weili,” Shevchenko said to MMAFighting in a recent interview. “I don’t know what number she was but because of lucky circumstances she became champion but she still has to prove that she is in the right place and she’s there because no one is better than her.
“Because my opinion, she still has Joanna, she’s a very hard test for her. She has Rose [Namajunas] and she’s also a very hard test for her and she has Tatiana Suarez. So before she proves that she’s better than them, I think it’s not right to jump over the stairs. It’s not right.”
“She has a lot of things to prove yet,” Shevchenko said. “I’m really open but I would say I would accept it with someone who will show that they are there [at the top].”
UFC 247 UNDERCARD
- Champ Jon Jones vs. Dominick Reyes – for the light heavyweight title
- Champ Valentina Shevchenko vs. Katlyn Chookagian – for women’s flyweight title
- Derrick Lewis vs. Ilir Latifi
- Mirsad Bektic vs. Dan Ige
- Ovince Saint Preux vs. Ryan Spann
- Andrea Lee vs. Lauren Murphy
- Juan Adams vs. Justin Tafa
Who do you guys think wins in a fight between Valentina Shevchenko and Katlyn Chookagian?
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