5 reasons why Valentina Shevchenko can beat Amanda Nunes in potential trilogy bout

#4. Shevchenko's distance management

Beyond her defense against low kicks, Valentina Shevchenko's distance management can and has proved to be a troubling aspect of her game for Nunes. The distance Shevchenko maintains is long enough that it rewards her in several key ways.

First, it forces her opponents to take additional steps forward whenever they try to close the distance against her, causing her foes to telegraph their intentions while simultaneously affording Shevchenko more time to make the necessary reads to inform her counters.

Second, by depriving Nunes of her longest weapons—her low kicks—Shevchenko will limit the Brazilian to using her punches. Although Nunes possesses a long reach, her jab and right cross are no longer than her legs, so she will overextend with her punches due to Valentina Shevchenko's distance management, exposing herself to her rival's counters.

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#3. Valentina Shevchenko's neutralizing

If at any point Nunes grows frustrated with Shevchenko's unusually long range, 'Bullet' will likely pull back at the waist, causing Nunes' punches to fall just short of connecting before countering her with check hooks.

However, as the reigning flyweight queen's primary interest is defense, she might also resort to her oft-used tactics like pulling her leg away and throwing non-committal spinning back-kicks and body kicks to score points, ensuring she is rarely in position to be hit.

Once 'Bullet' conditions her opponents to this neutralizing style of engagement, she ducks under her foe's punches to secure a bodylock and inside trip when their hips are squared as they're only concerned with her striking. It worked effectively against Holly Holm at UFC on Fox 20 and will give Nunes more to think about than just her striking, preventing her from settling into a rhythm.