Scouting Report: Valentina Shevchenko

Valentina Shevchenko

Born: March 7, 1988 (Age: 34) in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
Division: Women’s Flyweight
Height: 5’5”
Reach: 65.5”
Record: 23-3 (12-2 UFC)
Association: Tiger Muay Thai
Stage of Career: Post-Prime

Summary: Shevchenko can make an argument to be considered the greatest female fighter of all-time. In the standup department, she has a highly patient counterstriking style predicated on her technique, timing and supreme intelligence. She does not throw certain punches, rarely opting for the right hook as a southpaw while almost completely ignoring the overhand left and uppercuts. However, she is highly effective at what she does, especially with her excellent jab and solid left cross, all of it aided by a number of effective kicks. Coupled with outstanding movement and defense, she is exceedingly difficult to touch, having mastered the idea of hitting and not being hit. However, her grappling may actually be even better than her striking. She is a fantastic wrestler, especially in the clinch, with an oftentimes unstoppable outside trip and other upper-body takedowns, including hip throws, headlock takedowns and waist-lock lifts and slams. Once on top, she excels at securing the crucifix position and finishing many opponents with her ground-and-pound. She has fantastic takedown defense, though it should be noted that if she herself is taken down, she often stays there and becomes vulnerable to ground-and-pound. Additionally, Shevchenko has outstanding cardio and ranks as one of the smartest fighters in all of MMA.

STRIKING

• Stance: Southpaw.
• Hand Speed: Slightly to moderately faster than average.
• Jab: Straight, technical, fast and fairly hard. She could benefit from throwing it more. An excellent weapon.
• Cross: Fast and accurate, but it appears to have lost some of its power as of the Jennifer Maia fight.
• Right Hook: Rarely throws it.
• Overhand Left: Almost never throws it.
• Uppercuts: Rarely throws them.
• Solitary Striker or Volume Puncher: More of a one-shot counterstriker. Rarely throws more than a punch or two, except when the opponent is badly hurt.
• Favorite Combination(s): The one-two, which is fluid, fast and harmonious. However, the two lacks power and straightness, with a bit of herky-jerky extraneous motion. It is almost more of a weird casting punch.
• Leg Kicks: While quick and hard to counter, they are also quite light, partly because she does not turn her hips into them much. Such issues are not helped by her unique muay thai stance, with a light lead leg and often going backwards instead of forward with her kicks.
• Body Kicks: Not quite as fast as her leg kicks, but they are more powerful, with plenty of opportunities to land them from the southpaw stance. She beat up Jessica Eye with them and used them to set up the knockout.
• Head Kicks: Can throw a hard, effect head kick like the one she used to knock out Eye, with similar properties to her body kicks.
• Chains Kicks to Punches: Yes, and she does so quite well.

Shevchenko’s counterstriking style may not provide many spectacular highlights like that of other fighters, and her standup is often highly economical, as she throws a limited number of punches and only throws them when there is an opportunity to do so. However, the approach is also enormously effective and difficult to crack, especially when combined with her footwork and defense. Her jab is excellent and her left cross is quite good, with solid kicks to the body and head. She does not throw combinations and even her one-two has some flaws, relying on the timing and accuracy of her shots. Interestingly, in addition to largely eschewing the overhand left and uppercuts, her leg kicks are fast but fairly light. Still, her best quality is her outstanding footwork, movement and defense, which makes it difficult to lay gloves on her.

CLINCH

• Physical Strength: Can overpower even strong grapplers in the clinch, though as Maia and Taila Santos have shown, she can be kept there by big, strong flyweights.
• Technique: Probably the cleanest and most proficient out of the clinch of any female fighter ever.
• Knees: Fires solid blows to the midsection at a decent rate.
• Elbows: Throws a nifty short elbow with nice rotation and arc, she does not step into it and instead goes backward with it when disengaging from the clinch.
• Defense Against Knees/Elbows: Decent, but she can absolutely be hit with knees if she is locked into the clinch and unable to get the takedown.

Shevchenko is terrific at getting takedowns from the clinch and has solid knees and elbows she throws at close range. However, as some of the biggest and strongest female flyweight grapplers have shown, it is possible to have success with clinch striking against Shevchenko.

GRAPPLING

• Wrestling from a Shot: Able to quickly clinch and get beautiful trip and upper-body takedowns, even against good grapplers. She is terrific at catching opponents’ kicks, too.
• Wrestling in the Clinch: Not only does she consistently score with outside trips, but she has even employed a waist-lock lift and slam against Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Liz Carmouche, as well as hip tosses and even a quick headlock takedown she used against Maia. Shevchenko can take down even good grapplers at will in close quarters, as she did against Jessica Andrade.
• Takedown Defense: She has only been taken down occasionally by much bigger fighters, like Amanda Nunes at bantamweight, and her grappling has improved a lot since then.
• Ability to Return to Feet: Surprisingly limited. She tries to hip escape but is slow about doing so and can be blocked and held down, as Maia, among others, managed to show.
• Submissions: When an opponent makes a mistake, she can take advantage with an armbar or rear-naked choke, though neither maneuver is consistent. Shevchenko misses clear opportunities to take the back when an opponent is hip escaping and completely exposed.
• Defense/Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu from the Bottom: She can throw up some submissions but is vulnerable to ground-and-pound from a number of opponents, and she holds on to a closed full guard even when an opponent arches all the way up for strikes.
• Top Control: As noted, she misses opportunities to take the back when the opponent is hip escaping and completely exposed there. She does go for far-side wrist control sometimes, but it lacks conviction.
• Ground-and-Pound: Shevchenko is terrific at attaining the crucifix position—a position from which she has finished many opponents. In general, she throws solid punches while utilizing her body—she targets the opponent’s body well—and nice short, cutting elbows, like the one that opened up Katlyn Chookagian.

Shevchenko excels at executing takedowns, whether at range or in close quarters. In the clinch, she might be the best in women’s MMA history, with a gorgeous selection of outside trips, waistlock lifts and slams, hip tosses and headlock throws she can use. Once on top, he shines in getting to the crucifix position and delivering heavy ground-and-pound thanks to her solid punches and elbows. However, despite it being an area of such strength, Shevchenko has some vulnerabilities in the grappling herself. She is immensely difficult to take down, but if an opponent manages to do so, Shevchenko is relatively weak at getting up or preventing damage; a number of opponents have scored with ground-and-pound at her expense. Most of those instances were when she was competing at 135 pounds, but it is a potential area a few flyweights may be able to exploit.

INTANGIBLES

• Athleticism/General Physical Strength: Tremendously powerful, and she moves fluidly.
• Cardio: She only slows down in fourth and fifth rounds but not by much. Remember, she stopped Lauren Murphy in Round 4.
• Chin: At least serviceable, but it is difficult to know for certain since she eats very few strikes thanks to her movement and defense.
• Recuperative Powers: She has never been visibly hurt in the UFC, so the jury remains out. Considering her pedigree, one has to believe they are at least up to par.
• Intelligence: A brilliant fighter who always takes exactly what the opponent gives her and takes advantage of it, whether that means striking, grappling or clinching. Shevchenko perfectly tailors her approach to the situation. Her counterstriking style also requires recognizing opportunities and setting up her own offense, all of which she does beautifully.