UFC 247

Houston, Texas

Women’s Flyweight Championship

In one of the most intriguing match-ups on the card for UFC 247 in Houston, Texas, Women’s Flyweight Champion Valentina “Bullet” Shevchenko defends her 125 pound title against hard charging challenger Katlyn Chookagian. Both women are 31 years old. And while Chookagian is looking to make a name for herself, Shevchnko is widely considered one of the best pound for pound fighters in MMA. Her record stands at 18-3. Her losses suffered after going the distance with perhaps the greatest women’s fighter of all time, current UFC Champ-Champ Amanda Nunes.

Reach Advantage

Chookagian will come in looking to capitalize on her height and reach advantage. At 5’9″, she is 5 inches taller than Shevchenko and boasts a 2 inch advantage in reach. She is 13-2 as a professional with both losses coming in the UFC by way of decision at the hands of Jessica Eye and Liz Carmouche. Interestingly, she has never finished an opponent in a fight. All of her victories have come via decision.

Finishing Fights

Meanwhile, in her last fight, Shevchenko dispatched Jessica Eye via a stunning left head kick knockout. She utilized a technique the belies her professional kickboxing background. The tremendous finish was reminiscent of the likes of Mirko Crocop of the “right kick hospital, left kick cemetery” fame. Fortunately, Jessica will live to fight another day. But the devastating KO serves to remind us that Shevchenko does possess finishing power.

International Intrigue

The real intrigue in this match up on February 8, 2020, is in the background of both fighters. Shevchenko burst onto my radar during her 2015 UFC debut. She was en route to a split-decision victory of UFC veteran Sarah Kaufman. Shevchenko brought the whole package: she was pretty and she could fight. The UFC loves this combination in any division. The intrigue went even further for me. I learned that Shevchenko was born in the Central Asian Republic of Kyrgyzstan. Kyrgyzstan is just south of Kazakhstan, where I worked for two years in what seems like some other life. Obviously, Shevchenko is Russian. However, she was fighting out of Lima, Peru, which is at the top of my list of places to visit.

Jiu-Jitsu Brown Belt

Chookagian intrigues me for one reason only: she is a jiu-jitsu brown belt under Renzo Gracie. At Renzo’s in New York City, she and trains with John Danaher. If you train jiu-jitsu at all then you already know who John Danaher is. And you likely appreciate him as one of the greatest instructors in all of jiu-jitsu. In fact, we rank his jiu-jitsu instructionals high in our top 5 list of best online jiu-jitsu instructors. And if you would like more jiu-jitsu advice, check out our tips about how often you should train jiu-jitsu.

Judo Black Belt

Shevchenko is no slouch on the ground however. She holds a black belt in Judo. She also has five submission victories on her pro MMA record (all prior to joining the UFC). Chookagian thinks that her height and reach advantage are going to cause Shevchenko trouble. I would like to see her work her ground game against Valentina, who I imagine will want to keep the fight standing up.

Prediction

Intrigue aside, I give the advantage to Valentina Shevchenko in this fight. I believe the fight will go the distance and Bullet will come away with a unanimous decision on the judges’ score cards.

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