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What's the story?
The TUF 28 finale kicked off with the women's flyweight division fight between Ji Yeon Kim and Antonina "La Pantera" Shevchenko. The fight lasted the full quota of three rounds with Shevchenko emerging victorious by decision, after landing significantly more strikes than her Korean counterpart. With seven wins now on the trot for Shevchenko, it looks as though she is on the road to being one of the most highly anticipated fighters of the future.
In case you didn't know..
Antonina Shevchenko is a Peruvian-Kyrgyzstan Muay Thai fighter who is the second from the Shevchenko family to enter the UFC, after her older sister, Valentina Shevchenko. Antonina made her MMA debut back in 2002, before taking a long layoff from the sport for twelve long years. In 2017, she returned to the Octagon and has been successful ever since with four back to back victories in her last four appearances.
Ji Yeon Kim was born in South Korea and is a trained martial artist with backgrounds in disciplines such as Sanda, Boxing, Hapkido, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. She made her UFC debut in June 2017, after losing to Lucie Pudilova via unanimous decision. Kim bounced back from her defeat by amassing victories over Justine Kish and Melinda Fabian - during the preliminary card of the UFC Fight Night main event between Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone and Leon Edwards.
The heart of the matter
The fight kick-started with Kim immediately opening up with an attempt to catch Shevchenko with a loaded straight right hand. Shevchenko remained patient throughout the first round, by only landing timely combinations on the Korean. Kim seemed to be finding difficulty in finding her range, and as a result, could not land the combinations that she seemed to be plotting for.
Both fighters looked relatively comfortable with landing shots in the clinch position. Shevchenko utilized her leg kicks with fierce precision, along with perfectly timed counter punches all throughout the fight. During the third and final round, Shevchenko landed a solid takedown after successfully countering a leg kick from Kim. The Kyrgyzstani then followed up with an array of ground and pound blows before standing up in the clinch position during the final moments of the bout. With Shevchenko being the more dominant attack, the judges found no trouble in scoring the contest - 30-27 for the winner by unanimous decision, Antonina Shevchenko.
What's next?
Antonina Shevchenko seems to be showing great promise and could very likely be a fighter to watch out for in the future women's flyweight division.
Who would you like "La Pantera" to face next? Leave your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.
