Ariel Helwani of ESPN reported this afternoon that Antonina Shevchenko vs Ashlee Evans-Smith has been added to The Ultimate Fighter 28 Finale Nov. 30 at The Pearl at the Palms in Las Vegas. This fight will be at Flyweight. Antonina is 33 years old and of course she is the older sister of Valentina Shevchenko. Her MMA record is 6-0 but like her sister, she is a kickboxer. They train together so they are very similar. But Antonina isn't as experienced at MMA. Antonina won a UFC contract with a win over Jaimee Nievera on Dana White's Tuesday Night Contender Series. Jaimee was a late replacement when the original opponent was injured. It's hard to tell from that fight if Antonina is any good. Ashlee is 31 years old. She trains at Team Oyama in California which is also home for Carla Esparza. Her record is 6-3 and 3-3 in the UFC. She won her Flyweight debut in Apr. with a win over Bec Rawlings. All her other UFC fights were at Bantamweight and she fought at Featherweight before she came to the UFC. The reason a fighter would want to drop that much weight is she has a size advantage at Flyweight. She has only had one fight at Flyweight. I think it's too soon to tell if she will be better that she was at Bantamweight. She hasn't been impressive so far.
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