Valentina Shevchenko (15-3 MMA, 4-2 UFC) announced herself as an immediate contender at 125 pounds, scoring a brutal beatdown of UFC newcomer Priscila Cachoeira (8-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) in a fight that should have been stopped well before it was.

• Valentina Shevchenko Vs Jennifer Maia
• Valentina Shevchenko Fight
• Valentina Shevchenko Vs Priscilla
• Valentina Shevchenko Record
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• Ufc Valentina Shevchenko

The women’s flyweight bout was the co-main event of today’s UFC Fight Night 125 card at Mangueirinho Gymnasium in Belem, Para, Brazil. It aired on FS1 following prelims on FS2 and UFC Fight Pass.

Valentina Shevchenko Vs Jennifer Maia

Shevchenko was crisp early, firing rapid punches that landed flush on the mark. Cachoeira was firm in the pocket, trying to shake off the damage and fire back, but Shevchenko’s left hand was precise and stunned her foe in the early going. Despite the advantage on the feet, Shevchenko decided to press forward for a takedown, where she unleashed some brutal ground-and-pound blows, slashing open Cachoeira and splattering blood all over the canvas.

Referee Mario Yamasaki watched the action closely, and Cachoeira showed respectable heart, but Shevchenko was just vicious with each successive blow. Cachoeira tried desperately to tie things up underneath, but Shevchenko simply pummeled away at the body before again posturing and dropping elbows to the face.

Shevchenko took the fight to the floor immediately in the second, moving to side control before locking in a crucifix and pummeling away on her opponent’s face. Shevchenko briefly turned her attention to the right arm but couldn’t get an earnest attempt at a submission, turning her attention back to the striking game. With Cachoeira trapped on her back, Shevchenko just absolutely mauled her with blow after blow. Cachoeira eventually turned her back, allowing Shevchenko to latch in a fight-ending rear-naked choke at the 4:25 mark of the second frame.

Valentina Shevchenko Fight

FightMetric statistics showed a 217-1 advantage in strikes for Shevchenko in the one-sided beatdown.

The world's best MMA & combat sports fight database. View fighters and event schedules from the UFC, Bellator, Boxing Promoters, and local regions around the world. Valentina Shevchenko was born March 7th 1988 to a fighting family in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Her older sister Antonina Shevchenko is a multiple time Kickboxing and Muay Thai world champion, and her mother, Elena Shevchenko is a 3rd degree Black Belt in Taekwondo and President of the Federation of Thai Boxing in Kyrgyzstan.

• UFC Fight Night 125 card: Valentina Shevchenko vs Priscila Cachoeira full fight preview Thursday, February 1, 2018 - 03:02 Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) women’s Flyweight strikers Valentina Shevchenko and Priscila Cachoeira this Saturday (Feb. 3, 2018) at UFC Fight Night 125 inside Arena Guilherme Paraense in Belem, Brazil.
• By John Morgan February 4, 2018 12:40 am Valentina Shevchenko (15-3 MMA, 4-2 UFC) announced herself as an immediate contender at 125 pounds, scoring a brutal beatdown of UFC newcomer Priscila.
• Valentina Shevchenko vs Priscila Cachoeira Full Fight.

“I was prepared to make my fight easy because I know there is no easy fight – you have to train really hard to make the fight easy,” Shevchenko said after the win. “And the most exciting thing about my performance in flyweight is I feel just as strong as I feel at bantamweight but twice as fast.

“From the very beginning, I said that it didn’t mean anything that Priscila was a newcomer. I will fight anyone, and sometimes they are newcomers. Priscila has a whole future in front of her, and now I expect to fight for the belt in a few months.”

With Shevchenko’s win in her new division, the former bantamweight title challenger seems primed for a shot at the flyweight crown.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 125 results include:

Valentina Shevchenko def. Priscila Cachoeira via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 4:25Michel Prazeres def. Desmond Green via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)Timothy Johnson def. Marcelo Golm via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)Douglas Silva de Andrade def. Marlon Vera via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)Thiago “Marreta” Santos def. Anthony Smith via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 1:03Sergio Moraes def. Tim Means via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)Alan Patrick def. Damir Hadzovic via unanimous decision (30-25, 30-27, 30-27)Polyana Viana def. Maia Stevenson via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 3:50Iuri Alcantara def. Joe Soto via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 1:06Deiveson Figueiredo def. Joseph Morales via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 4:34

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 125, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

In a sport known for its unexpected twists and turns, sometimes the most shocking outcome is when things go exactly how you think they will – especially when it turns out that you weren’t ready for what that would look like.

Take Valentina Shevchenko, for example. She came into her flyweight debut at UFC Fight Night 125 in Belem, Brazil, as a colossal 10-1 favorite over UFC newcomer Priscila Cachoeira.

The point of this exercise seemed to be obvious: Shevchenko (15-3 MMA, 4-2 UFC), who ought to be an instant favorite to get her hands on the title in the UFC’s newly created women’s 125-pound division, was supposed to go out there and get herself some highlights.

Cachoeira (8-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) was as good a sacrificial lamb as any. She came in with an unbeaten record, even if it was against lower tier competition, but she had no real chance to do much against a fighter of Shevchenko’s caliber and anybody who saw a minute of her fight footage knew it.

So what happened? Pretty much what you’d expect. Shevchenko went out in the first round and elbowed a hole in her face, then elbowed her some more, and pretty soon that corner of the cage looked like someone had used it to film a horror movie.

When, against all good sense, Cachoeira marched back out for the second round, Shevchenko did it some more. And some more. And then some more.

See, here’s the tricky part. As the beating progressed, eventually we turned our collective focus on referee Mario Yamasaki. Why wasn’t he stopping this? Why was he just standing there and watching Cachoeira bleed? Was he trying to get her killed?

These are all fair questions, especially for a fight that, from its opening moment, resembled an assault more than a competition. At the same time, complaining about the late stoppage in a squash match that was never going to be anything but a beatdown is a little like criticizing a demolition derby for its carbon footprint.

It was obvious what this was. And apparently we were fine with that just as long as the ref kept the total blood output to two pints or less. It was when we were forced to confront the prolonged ugliness of a horrendously one-sided fight that we began to get mad.

Valentina Shevchenko Vs Priscilla

That’s not to say that Yamasaki is blameless. Not even close. Clearly, he screwed this one up, almost as if he were so intent on keeping it going that he was willing to ignore it even when Cachoeira started to tap out. He’s going to get buried in criticism for this one, and he deserves it.

Valentina Shevchenko Record

Still, this mismatch didn’t materialize out of nowhere. The UFC made this fight, and UFC President Dana White’s defense of it makes about as much sense as if Yamasaki told us he was giving Cachoeira a chance to catch her second wind.

“For the MORONS says it’s her UFC debut……it’s the entire divisions debut,” White wrote on Instagram, in response to comments on a post criticizing Yamasaki. “There will be Fights like this until the entire division starts to weed out who belongs and who doesn’t. That’s why u need good officials who stop fights when they need to be stopped!!!!!!”

That explanation makes no sense at all. The women’s flyweight class might be new in the UFC, but it’s not new overall. It is not an unknowable mystery. If it were, oddsmakers wouldn’t have so easily pegged Shevchenko as a massive favorite.

This is a fighter who, in her last bout, came within a point or two of winning the UFC title in the division above this one. She has extensive experience as a kickboxer, and her only losses in the UFC are to the current women’s bantamweight champ.

So yeah, we already knew she was pretty good. Just because the weight class is new to the UFC, that doesn’t mean every fighter in it is starting from zero and figuring it out on the fly.

Valentina Shevchenko Boyfriend

It’s the referee’s job to protect the fighters, and Yamasaki failed something awful on Saturday night, but he shouldn’t be the only one with some responsibility to consider fighter safety.

This beating wasn’t a complete accident. We might want to consider what it means when our real issue is not that the fight was a non-competitive bloodbath – but that it lasted too long.

Ufc Valentina Shevchenko

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 125, check out the UFC Events section of the site.