Singapore is the center of the MMA world this weekend with UFC 275 taking place in the southeastern Asian country.
The main card hosts four of the top women in MMA today, including a title fight featuring the No. 1 pound-for-pound women’s fighter in Valentina Shevchenko.
UFC flyweight champ Shevchenko (22-3 MMA, 11-2 UFC) will take on her newest challenger in Talia Santos (19-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC).
Perhaps even more exciting for MMA fans is the rematch of one of the greatest UFC fights of all time between two former strawweight champions. Zhang Weili (21-3 MMA, 5-2 UFC) will run it back against Joanna Jedrzejczyk (16-4 MMA, 10-4 UFC).
UFC 275 Main Event: Shevchenko vs Santos
The two flyweight fighters hold the co-main event spot on Saturday night.
Shevchenko has seemed nearly unstoppable in her last eight fights, which have included five finishes since 2018.
Her eight-fight win streak includes wins over Jessica Andrade, Lauren Murphy, Jedrzejczyk, Katlyn Chookagian, and current Bellator flyweight champion Liz Carmouche.
Her last loss? Current featherweight champion and former bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes by split decision when Shevchenko fought at bantamweight back in 2017. Since then, nobody has come close to taking out the queen of the flyweights.
But Santos will attempt to take the belt from Shevchenko’s Kyrgyzstan back to her home in Brazil.
Since losing her UFC debut to Mara Romero Borella by split decision in early 2019, Santos has strung together a four-fight winning streak with victories over Molly McCann, Gillian Robertson, Roxanne Modafferi, and Joanne Wood. Three of those four victories came by decision.
Shevchenko last defended the belt back at UFC 266 last September with a dominant performance that ended with a fourth-round TKO over Murphy.
The matchup is one for the strikers. Both fighters have strong Muay Thai and kickboxing and prefer to stay on their feet but both women are also comfortable on the ground.
On the ground, the fight will come down to whether or not Santos can handle Shevchenko’s strength and the way she is able to handle opponents and bury them in elbows as she has done in her last two fights against Murphy and Andrade.
Valentina Shevchenko | Talia Santos |
|
---|---|---|
34 | Age | 28 |
5'5'' | Height | 5'6'' |
125 lbs | Weight | 125 lbs |
66.5 inches | Reach | 68 inches |
Lauren Murphy: W (TKO) | Last 5 | Joanne Wood: W (Sub.) |
Jessica Andrade: W (TKO) | Roxanne Modafferi: W (Dec.) | |
Jennifer Maia: W (Dec.) | Gillian Robertson: W (Dec.) | |
Katlyn Chookagian: W (TKO) | Molly McCann: W (Dec.) | |
Liz Carmouche: W (Dec.) | Mara Romero Borella: L (Dec.) |
Weili vs Jedrzejczyk 2
Though no belt is on the line, this fight may be the most competitive of the night if it’s anything like the first bout.
Weili and Jedrzejczyk will finally run it back. They first fought back at UFC 248 in March 2020 with Weili winning by split decision and defending her belt when she was still the strawweight champion.
The first fight was an all-out, five-round war that left Jedrzejczyk looking almost unrecognizable as her head swelled up like a balloon.
Sadly for MMA fans, their fight this weekend is a non-title fight and will be only three rounds but expect excitement nonetheless.
Weili is coming off of back-to-back losses against now-former champ Rose Namajunas in 2021. In their first bout, Namajunas knocked Weili out with a head kick at UFC 261 for the belt and at UFC 268, she defended it by beating Weili again by split decision.
Fan-favorite Jedrzejczyk hasn’t fought since the early 2020 bout against Weili so it’ll be a welcome return for her, the fans, and the strawweight division.
However, Jedrzejczyk is 2-4 in her last six bouts with wins over Michelle Waterson and Tecia Torres. She has her own back-to-back losses to Namajunas and a loss to Shevchenko.
Their first fight stayed standing so expect much of the same this time around again. These two women are coming to Singapore to fight and to make a statement in the strawweight division. They both want the belt back and a standout win could put either of them right back into the title picture.
Zhang Weili | Joanna Jedrzejczyk |
|
---|---|---|
32 | Age | 34 |
5'4'' | Height | 5'6'' |
115 lbs | Weight | 115 lbs |
63 inches | Reach | 65.5 inches |
Rose Namajunas: L (Dec.) | Last 5 | Zhang Weili: L (Dec.) |
Rose Namajunas: L (KO) | Michelle Waterson: W (Dec.) | |
Joanna Jedrzejczyk: W (Dec.) | Valentina Shevchenko: L (Dec.) | |
Jessica Andrade: W (TKO) | Tecia Torres: W (Dec.) | |
Tecia Torres: W (Dec.) | Rose Namajunas: L (Dec.) |