Shevchenko defends Cachoeira slaughter: It wasn’t a mismatch!

This past weekend (Sat., Feb. 3, 2018), Valentina Shevchenko made her impressive Flyweight debut by dismantling Priscila Cachoeira at UFC Fight Night 125 in Belem, Brazil, in what was an absolute one-sided affair.

See it again here.

Before slapping on a fight-ending rear-naked choke in the second round, “Bullet” had her way with the the previously-undefeated Brazilian bomber, picking her apart on the feet to the tune of a 203-3 strike differential, then damaging her face with intense ground-and-pound which prompted UFC president Dana White to once again criticize Mario Yamaskai for not putting an end to the fight sooner.

Of course, many felt UFC matchmakers threw Priscila to the wolves too early. As for Shevchenko, she doesn’t see it that way, declaring on The MMA Hour that she gave it all she had against the newcomer because her track record showed she was a capable fighter.

“No (not a mismatch) because I saw her fight, eight wins, zero losses, more by TKO and that speaks something. People were thinking, like they didn’t hear her name yet, that it’s a mismatch. But at 125 they just formed the weight class for females and we will see more names that have not fought yet in UFC. And that does not mean they are weak. I see fight if Priscila and what I see is that she has good character in the fight, very strong hands and a very strong head. No matter how other girls were hitting here, she never quit. I knew she would give everything so that’s why I was training like every other fight. I didn’t do nothing less than in my fights before.”

The writing seemed to be on the wall.

While it didn’t work out for Priscila, there have been rare instances in which an unknown fighter came into the Octagon and shocked the world in his or her debut, specifically Junior dos Santos, who knocked out Fabricio Werdum at UFC 90 in the very first round.

Nevertheless, fighting on the biggest stage of them all is not a walk in the park, as Priscila quickly realized, but it will be interesting to see how Cachoeira fares in her sophomore effort.

Let’s just hope it doesn’t come to this next time around.