“When you end the fight with the fight result you expected, it’s the best feeling that you ever can feel.”
HOUSTON – [autotag]Valentina Shevchenko[/autotag] is proud of her work.
The UFC women’s flyweight champion, Shevchenko (19-3 MMA, 8-2 UFC) successfully defended her belt for the third time Saturday when she defeated Katlyn Chookagian by third-round TKO in the UFC 247 co-main event.
While speaking to the media at the post-fight news conference, a beaming Shevchenko expressed pride in her performance as her hard work paid off once again.
“I feel amazing,” Shevchenko said backstage at Toyota Center. “It’s not only because of the performance, the past couple months was a lot of work – a lot of hard training, mental pressure, physical pressure, and everything. When you end the fight with the fight result you expected, it’s the best feeling that you ever can feel.”
Through five fights as a flyweight, Shevchenko has been unbeatable. While, the reoccurring questions of her interest in potential superfights continue to arise, Shevchenko sees three possibilities for opponents within her 125-pound division.
“We just watched the rankings of flyweight with Laura Sanko, and it was after Katlyn (Chookagain) (and) Jessica Eye. It was [autotag]Joanne Calderwood[/autotag], [autotag]Jennifer Maia[/autotag], and [autotag]Roxanne Modafferi[/autotag],” Shevchenko said. “These three girls I think are strong fighters. They have very good skills. Each one, they have different styles of fighting. I would love to fight any one of them.”
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Calderwood has won three out of her last four fights, with her lone loss coming to Chookagian by decision. Modafferi has won two out of three with her only defeat suffered at the hands of Maia, who has won two out of three but is coming off a loss to Chookagian in November.
Additionally, Maia has missed weight for back-to-back fights. If Maia was to be placed in a title fight, however, Shevchenko thinks the Brazilian would take her cut more seriously.
“I think if it’s going to be a matter of the title fight, she’s going to take it more seriously, probably,” Shevchenko said.
As for a timeline for her return, Shevchenko is ready – like, the “right now” kind of ready.
“It doesn’t matter,” Shevchenko said. “I don’t know – tomorrow, probably. Yes, I’d love to fight soon.”
Check out Shevchenko’s full UFC 247 post-fight news conference in the video above.
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