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UFC president Dana White has lauded reigning UFC women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko and hit back at claims of her division being weak. During his latest interview with John Morgan for MMA Underground, White discussed Shevchenko and her accomplishments in the women’s flyweight division.
Morgan alluded to the fact that ‘Bullet’ has already made six successful title defenses and will be looking to make her seventh at this Saturday’s UFC 275 event.
Morgan highlighted that when a division is ruled by a dominant champion like Shevchenko, the rest of the division is usually written off as weak. Also, the champion doesn’t get enough credit for their accomplishments.
Additionally, Morgan indicated that Anderson Silva and Georges St-Pierre were similarly criticized during their dominant reigns as the UFC middleweight champion and UFC welterweight champion respectively. White agreed with Morgan’s opinion and stated:
“You’re absolutely right. You’re absolutely dead on. Yeah, what Valentina has accomplished, what Anderson [Silva] did during his reign, the list goes on and on – And that’s exactly what happens. People say the division is weak. No. Valentina Shevchenko is so good, she makes the division look weak.”
Morgan also suggested that if Shevchenko wins her upcoming fight, White could perhaps urge her to move up to bantamweight and fight Amanda Nunes or reigning champion Julianna Pena.
In response to being questioned whether he’ll push ‘Bullet’ to move to bantamweight, White said:
“No, not really. I respect her so much. Whatever she wants to do, I’m down. She can keep defending the title. She can fight Julianna. She can fight Amanda. I mean, whatever she wants to do, she wants it bad enough, I’ll try to make it happen.”
Watch Dana White’s conversation with John Morgan in the video below:
Michael Bisping on a potential rematch between Valentina Shevchenko and Julianna Pena
UFC women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko is scheduled to defend her title against Taila Santos at UFC 275 on June 11. Intriguingly, Shevchenko holds a win over reigning UFC women’s bantamweight champion Julianna Pena, having beaten Pena via submission back in 2017.
Taking to his YouTube channel, Michael Bisping recently opined that if Shevchenko wins at UFC 275, she should consider moving up to face Pena in a rematch. However, he added that it could happen only if Pena is still the champion by the time the rematch materializes:
"If [Valentina Shevchenko] continues to fight in this fashion, I don't know what she is gonna do. She has to challenge Julianna Pena, if Julianna is still the champion... Champ comes down and fights Shevchenko at 130[pounds]. Yeah, there you go. I said that. Call me stupid, still, this might be the people's main event."
Watch Michael Bisping's preview of UFC 275:
