Big Bad Blog Video Theater-Valentina Shevchenko vs Julianna Pena

Here's the match video of Valentina Shevchenko vs Julianna Pena from last night's UFC show in Denver. This was the main event of the show and the winner gets a shot at UFC Bantamweight Champion Amanda Nunes. Sometimes on this blog, I talk about a fighter beating herself. This fight is a perfect example of that. Julianna was winning this fight and she made a really stupid mistake and that was it. She beat herself and she should be kicking herself all the way home to Chicago. I still think she's a better fighter than Valentina but one mental error cost her. Round one of this fight was pretty close but I scored it 10-9 for Julianna. I thought she did well in the clinch with knees. Valentina got a couple of takedowns but she did nothing with top position. Two of the three judges scored it the same. In round two, Julianna took Valentina down and started pounding on her. So Julianna was winning. With a minute left, she left her arm open and Valentina did what any fighter should do and that's take advantage of an opportunity. If that doesn't happen, Valentina is down two rounds and she's in a hole that would be difficult to crawl out of. Does this mean that Valentina is now a submission ace? No because she hadn't won by submission in over ten years back when she was fighting regionally in Russia. And in those days MMA was a sideline for her. It takes more than one win to change my perception of any fighter. But she deserves credit for being opportunistic. A lot of fighters would not have recognized what Julianna handed to her and the ending would have been much different. So now she gets a title shot. Of course Amanda beat her by unanimous decision last year. I could see Valentina winning if she survives round one. Meanwhile Amanda keeps yapping about fighting at Welterweight. Dana White has put the brakes on that. Of course many are happy that Julianna lost because she has a big mouth. She has all the physical tools. But I'm not surprised that a mental error led to a loss. It's the one thing she needs to work on. Time will tell. Enjoy the video!