Valentina Shevchenko retains UFC women’s flyweight belt with unanimous decision over Liz Carmouche

Valentina Shevchenko has long wanted to avenge the blemish on her record given to her by Liz Carmouche.

In Montevideo, Uruguay, Shevchenko got her wish and deservedly won a five-round unanimous decision (50-45 scores across the board) over Carmouche.

Carmouche beat Shevchenko by TKO – a doctor’s stoppage due to a cut – back in 2010, but the latter emerged the victor tonight, making her second defence of her UFC women’s flyweight championship.

The contest was a largely tame affair as Carmouche wisely fought on the defensive against the decorated kickboxer.

Even a talented, defensive fighter can get caught out by such a cerebral fighter, though.

In flashes, Shevchenko showed why she is such a formidable force in women’s MMA. And when she wasn’t landing a spinning backfist or launching a kick, Shevchenko controlled where the fight took place on a whim – dominating positions on the feet and on the ground.

Carmouche is a tricky customer, but Shevchenko always appeared to have the upper hand.

It certainly wasn’t the best fight we’ve seen, Shevchenko continues to impress. It’s hard to see any female flyweight produce Shevchenko problems any time soon.

 

Vicente Luque takes split decision after three-round war with Mike Perry

https://twitter.com/UFCEurope/status/1160380575116476417

Some fights look good on paper and do not deliver the goods. The battle between Vicente Luque and Mike Perry looked good both on paper and in the Octagon.

For three rounds, the pair traded power punches, kicks, knees and wore them in return.

Perry looked to have won the first round, fighting technically yet throwing punches with the level of disdain you’d expect from the Floridian. While Luque defended these punches well, plenty got through his guard and it’s impressive to see he continued fighting as if he’d been tickled by a feather.

Luque’s persistence with the jab appeared to pay off in the second, landing some of his better punches and kicks to the body as Perry was moved towards the cage fence. Like the first, it was a close round, but I personally saw Luque taking the second stanza meaning it was 1-1 going into the third.

Both bloodied and beaten, Perry changed tact in the third round and sought after the takedown.

Luque defended Perry’s takedown attempts well and landed a crushing knee after successfully rebuffing one of Perry’s efforts.

By crushing, I really mean crushing. Luque’s knee landed flush on Perry’s nose and left it unrecognisable.

Somehow unperturbed by what was left of his nose, Perry still persevered with the takedown which prompted Luque to attempt a guillotine choke.

It was an unsuccessful attempt, leading to a final, bloody salvo of ground and pound to end the fight.

That was an absolute war. An argument could be made for either fighting winning the bout, which was evident in the scoring.

Ultimately, Luque got the split decision nod and he would like to fight a ranked opponent next as the surging welterweight seeks to advance up the UFC rankings.

 

Volkan Oezdemir shines as he makes light work of Ilir Latifi

https://twitter.com/UFCEurope/status/1160363077776232448

Volkan Oezdemir’s “No Time” moniker may be a play on his penchant for fast knockouts in the cage, but he took his time in expertly dissecting Ilir Latifi on Saturday night in Montevideo.

Latifi is a tough, durable and, most importantly, dangerous light heavyweight customer, but Oezdemir nullified almost everything the Swede of Albanian descent threw his way.

Oezdemir threw with precision, landing punches and punishing low kicks at will.

Latifi had visibly tired by the time the second round rolled in. Not a surprise, given the punishment he received.

Looking at the clock in despair, Oezdemir showed little mercy in letting his hands and knees fly and scored a knockdown which he failed to finish.

He didn’t make that mistake a second time, though. Oezdemir folded Latifi with a banger of a left hook against the fence and swarmed the Swede with an onslaught of ground and pound.

The referee rightly called off the fight and Oezdemir is your winner by knockout.

This sees Oezdemir return to the win column in emphatic fashion and he wants either Jan Blachowicz or a Dominick Reyes rematch next.

The former UFC light heavyweight title contender switched up his training camp and lifestyle outside of the cage ahead of the fight. It appears to have paid dividends.

 

UFC Uruguay: Valentina Shevchenko vs. Liz Carmouche II full results:

Women’s Flyweight Championship: Valentina Shevchenko (c) def. Liz Carmouche by unanimous decision after five rounds
Welterweight: Vicente Luque def. Mike Perry by split decision after three rounds
Featherweight: Luiz Eduardo Garagorri def. Humberto Bandenay by unanimous decision after three rounds
Light Heavyweight: Volkan Oezdemir def. Ilir Latifi by KO (punches) at 4:32 of round two
Middleweight: Rodolfo Vieira def. Oskar Piechota by submission (arm-triangle choke) at 4:26 of round two
Featherweight: Enrique Barzola def. Bobby Moffett by split decision after three rounds
Welterweight: Gilbert Burns def. Alexey Kunchenko by unanimous decision after three rounds
Heavyweight: Ciryl Gane def.Raphael Pessoa Nunes by submission (arm-triangle choke) at 4:12 of round one
Women’s Strawweight: Marina Rodriguez def. Tecia Torres by unanimous decision after three rounds
Flyweight: Rogerio Bontorin def. Raulian Paiva Ranzao by TKO (doctor’s stoppage) at 2:56 of round one
Bantamweight: Chris Gutierrez def. Geraldo de Freitas by split decision after three rounds
Lightweight: Alex da Silva Coelho def. Rodrigo Vargas by unanimous decision after three rounds
Women’s Flyweight: Veronica Macedo def. Polyana Viana by submission (armbar) at 1:09 of round one