Is Jessica Andrade Too Small In Size to Trouble Valentina Shevchenko?

Valentina Shevchenko has been clearing out her division one top contender at a time. ‘Bullet’ is set to make her fifth flyweight title defense as she takes on Brazilian and former champion Jessica Andrade. ‘Bullet’ last defended her title towards the tail end of last year against Jennifer Maia at UFC 255. 

Andrade, on the other hand, made her flyweight debut in October last year with a win over Katlyn Chookagian and has since been granted a title shot against an extremely dominant champion in Shevchenko.

As we have seen earlier, this year with Israel Adesanya, moving up in weight and capturing UFC gold in another weight class is easier said than done. Although ‘Bate Estaca’ has had a tune-up fight at Flyweight, a fight against Shevchenko is a different ball game. 

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Will Jessica Andrade be able to overthrow the dominant Valentina Shevchenko?

Valentina Shevchenko is known for her striking. She lands an impressive 2.98 significant strikes per minute while absorbing just 2.03 in return. However, this does not mean she lags behind in other departments. ‘Bullet’ averages 2.21 takedowns per 15 minutes with an accuracy of 58%. 

The champion is an extremely strong flyweight and is on the bigger side when it comes to flyweights. She has previously also competed in the bantamweight division. For most of her Muay Thai career, Valentina competed at 60kgs (132 pounds) therefore she is naturally a much larger woman and used to competing at a bigger weight class. 

Andrade, on the other hand, has spent most of her UFC career in the strawweight division. Going up against Shevchenko she will be at a massive deficit in both height and reach. ‘Bullet’ will have a four-inch height advantage and a four-inch reach advantage as well. 

The task at hand for Andrade is an extremely difficult one. However, if she is able to pull it off, she will add her name to an extremely exclusive list of fighters to have captured gold in two weight classes in the UFC. 

Do you think Jessica Andrade can get the job done against Shevchenko? Let us know in the comments below!

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