Valentina Shevchenko walked into UFC 322 prepared for war, but she walked out with one of the cleanest performances of her career.
The longtime flyweight queen outclassed former strawweight champion Zhang Weili in their highly anticipated superfight, securing a unanimous decision and reminding the MMA world why she’s still at the top of the pound-for-pound list.
The bout was billed as a potential all-timer, but Shevchenko controlled every round, standing, grappling, and everywhere in between. Even she didn’t expect the fight to feel this manageable.
“I was preparing for a war,” Valentina Shevchenko said after the win. “My training camp was one of the hardest of my career. I didn’t expect it to be easy, but the work I put in made the fight less hard than I imagined.”
The victory marked Shevchenko’s ninth successful title defense, setting the all-time UFC record for women and pushing her to fifth overall across both divisions. With her spot as one of the greatest female fighters of all time cemented, the fighter is looking for the big opponent
Shevchenko has options, and she isn’t rushing to make demands. The flyweight division has rising contenders like Erin Blanchfield and Natalia Silva, but the biggest conversations are happening at bantamweight, where Kayla Harrison holds the belt and Amanda Nunes is plotting her return. Shevchenko is open to all of it.
“I think it’s one of the possibilities,” she said when asked about moving up. “Right now, I want to take care of some injuries that followed me through camp. But after a week or so, I’ll sit with my team and decide what’s next.”
The Amanda Nunes trilogy remains unfinished business. Fans have begged for the third fight for years, but uncertainties around Nunes’ return linger.
Kayla Harrison, on the other hand, is active, dominant, and already calling for big fights. She wants Nunes first, but she’s also open to facing Shevchenko or even Ronda Rousey, if the division needs a blockbuster.
For Shevchenko, both routes are appealing.
“Kayla is a possibility, and that would be a huge challenge,” she said. “Amanda is also a possibility if everything aligns. And flyweight still has strong challengers too.”
With UFC 322 in the books, Valentina Shevchenko is in a rare position, she has cleaned out her division, broken records, won superfights, and still has massive opportunities ahead of her. Whether she stays at flyweight, moves up for a second belt, or finally settles her rivalry with Amanda Nunes, her options are stacked with legacy-defining fights.
