Valentina Shevchenko Says Lauren Murphy And Jessica Andrade Need To Fight To Decide No.1 Contender

Valentina Shevchenko is, without a doubt, one of the scariest fighters, both in the women’s flyweight division and in the UFC. ‘Bullet’, as she is known, has gone to the judges score cards in only six of her 19 wins as a professional MMA fighter. There have seldom been champions as dominant as Valentina. 

However, no matter how good the champion is, there is always an up-and-coming talent aiming for the belt. The UFC’s conveyor belt of talent keeps the Champions on their toes. For Valentina, Maia is next in line. However, if she were to get past Maia, there is another potential opponent waiting. 

Read: “I don’t look at my opponent and prepare”- Valentina Shevchenko opens up on upcoming flyweight title defense

Valentina Shevchenko shares her thoughts on a potential fight with Jessica Andrade 

In a recent interview, James Lynch of Line Movement MMA asked Valentina what she thought of Jessica Andrade’s recent victories, and if she thought she was the rightful number one contender. Or whether Lauren Murphy deserves that tag, as she has won four in a row now. 

Valentina replied saying, “You know, there is very interesting things happening right now in the flyweight division. So, we have three girls who really want to be the next one. So we have Jessica Andrade, Lauren Murphy, and Cynthia Calvillo. So we have these three girls. I think it will be some kind of a battle between them, to get the right.”

Bullet continued, “She (Andrade) will get the right to fight for the title some day somehow, but not the other way because she is not the champion. She’s not waiting for the fight she is asking for the fight….. If it says Lauren Murphy, that is wrong as well. Lauren can claim she wants to fight Andrade first, then let’s see who wins that fight, then the winner of that fight will get the right to fight for the title.”

Lauren Murphy is currently on a four fight win streak with two of those wins coming via stoppage. She makes an exemplary case for being the number one contender. However, Jessica Andrade has thrown her name in the mix following her recent win over Chookagian. 

The champion, however, has a different view on the number one contender picture as she suggests, Andrade and Murphy should fight for the number one contender spot. The winner can then face Valentina if she manages to get past Maia. 

What do you think should happen next? Does Andrade deserve the title shot? Or should she fight Lauren Murphy to decide who gets the next shot at the title? Let us know in the comments below.