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Jennifer Maia has been the recipient of some sound advice heading into her UFC 255 title bout against women's flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko.
Maia will be facing the toughest test of her MMA career yet in Shevchenko, as she looks to become the new women's 125-pound champion. She is coming off a submission win over Joanne Calderwood back in August.
Looking to get a few pointers on how to defeat Shevchenko, Maia reached out to someone who has done it twice before in two-division champion and fellow Brazilian Amanda Nunes.
Speaking to Sherdog.com, Maia shared that Nunes was kind enough answer back with a lengthy message.
“We have a friend in common and I asked him if he could talk to Amanda. She was so nice and sent a very long message to me. It was funny that at the end she apologized for the long message. So cute. Basically she told me to not let Valentina be comfortable leading the fight and impose my rhythm. She is very intelligent and reads your game plan very well, mainly when you keep doing a similar sequence. And we worked pretty hard to bring some surprises to her."
As dominant as Valentina Shevchenko has been in the UFC, Nunes has the Kyrgyzstani-Peruvian fighter's number, beating her in their two meetings.
Nunes first edged out Shevchenko by unanimous decision at UFC 196 back in 2016. The two squared off once again, this time for the UFC women's bantamweight championship, with Nunes again coming out on top.
Armed with guidance from the only woman to defeat Valentina Shevchenko twice, Jennifer Maia looks to leave UFC 255 with gold around her waist.
Valentina Shevchenko hoping for third fight against Amanda Nunes
Reigning UFC women's flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko has expressed her desire for a third matchup with two-division UFC titleholder Amanda Nunes in the near future.
With both herself and Nunes currently dominating their respective weight divisions, Shevchenko believes that a third fight is "logical."
“I think it would be logical. She’s been going through her opponents very easily, and I think that for the future, it would be logical to have a third fight because the second fight, I didn’t lose it. I won it.”
Now that she's a champion as well, Shevchenko also believes that judges would see things differently this time around.
“This fight right now, as champion vs. champion, I think the judges will have a different outlook towards the fight."
Before she concerns herself with Nunes though, Valentina Shevchenko will need to take care of business against Jennifer Maia at UFC 255 this weekend.
Who do you think would win a third fight between Amanda Nunes and Valentina Shevchenko? Sound off in the comments.
