#ufc275

Legendary fighter. Defended the strawweight title 5 times. Has been in some of the best fights in MMA history. Has fought basically every great strawweight there has been in the UFC. Just an absolute warrior throughout her career.

Honestly not surprised. I scored the first three rounds for Santos but that 2nd and especially that 3rd were competitive and when Santos did get Shevchenko down, she didn’t do much damage. Or even get much done with the sub attempts.

But Santos showed some real grit. Once she got Shevchenko down in the 1st round (by accident) you could see her confidence skyrocket. Then she got real takedowns in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th. If it wasn’t for the headbutt that shut her eye in the 3rd, this could have easily been her fight. I think people forget that Julianna Pena was beating Shevchenko before she pulled out that armbar. If you’re an aggressive (and skilled enough) wrestler/top control fighter, there is a real path to victory for you against Shevchenko. She might be a master of keeping range but she’s always going to present moments for a shot. Props to Santos for raising her stock immensely. Hopefully this fight fuels her growth further and she gets another crack.

Had to pull out the laptop and write down my thoughts for this one

Jiri vs Glover - Jiri by (T)KO early.

Can't help but feel we are going to see one of those fights where the older vet (Glover) has finally reached the mountain top thanks to good timing only to have it come crashing down immediately (think Bisping, Shogun, Werdum a bit or what just happened with Donaire and Inoue) because a younger guy with way more tread on the tire just comes and tears him apart. We know Glover is probably going to get hurt cause he does in basically every fight. And unlike basically anyone Glover has fought on his recent stretch, Jiri is a finisher. Not in the Anthony Smith, he's losing til he wins way of being a finisher. He is a 27 finishes in 32 fights type finisher. He's probably going to hurt Glover early. But unlike a Ion Cutelaba, I don't think Jiri lets him off the leash when he does.

Jiri isn't perfect though. He can be hurt (Reyes did). He can be stopped (King Mo did). Who knows how he looks in a fight with a 3rd, 4th, and 5th round? There's a solid path to victory for Glover if he survives early but you have got to think those come from behind performances have got to end at one point.

Shevchenko vs Santos - Shevchenko by UD (or 4th or 5th round tko). You have no idea how much I want to pick Santos, because I believe in the chaos that this sport throws out there. Normally when there's an upset in the women's divisions for titles, I can see the path. Wrote about it for Holm-Rousey, Joanna-Rose, Andrade-Rose 1, Rose-Esparza 2, and comically enough Pena-Nunes (years and years before the fight was made). But there were clear weaknesses that the upstart in all those fights could leverage for big wins, normally centered around a perceived weakness in the champ.

I like Santos. I think she's a good example of a fighter who got UFC money and dedicated herself to becoming a complete MMA fighter. She has 0 of the strengths any of those other women possess. She's not particularly brilliant in any facet of the game. While she is generally big and strong for 125lbs, she doesn't hold that edge over Valentina. The only way I can see Santos taking this is if we get a worse version of Shevchenko-Nunes 2 with Santos pressuring but refusing to throw giving Shevchenko nothing to counter for 25 minutes. Smarter people than me have pointed out some of Santos' similarities to Nunes, but I don' t think they factor in that Shevchenko-Nunes 1 was a brutal fight for both women involved that played into how the rematch went.

Zhang vs Joanna - Taking Zhang, UD or early stoppage.

There's so many weird caveats to this fight. If this fight had happened immediately after their first fight, I think I would have picked JJ cause she had the greater technical depth to make the adjustments she needed to win a rematch. Shorten exchanges, less kicking (or kicking upstairs more instead of to the leg). Really take away the big power counters that won Zhang their first fight. But Joanna hasn't fought since the last time these two fought, two years ago. And while Zhang is 0-2 in the meantime, she arguably beat Rose the 2nd time they fought and has looked physically well put together. Joanna is 34 and has been in so many brutal fights (Gadelha 2, Letournau, KK, Rose 1+2, and the Zhang fight). Has the two years helped her recover from that string of wars? Is she going to come back flat? She can't afford that in 3 round fight.