Shevchenko says only a superhuman Murphy could surprise her

Shevchenko will face Murphy and will be defending the flyweight title for the fifth time. Valentine Shechenko is taking it very seriously, which can be gauged from his recent statement.

On April 24, 2021, Valentina Shevchenko won TKO's landslide victory over Brazilian powerhouse Jessica Andrade to become the fourth successful defender of the flyweight title.

Valentina Shechenko is a dominant and fast-paced champion. She is 21-3 overall and 7-0 after her second defeat to Amanda Nunes in 2017. With the perfect combination of knockouts, submissions and decisions (seven each), Valentina is able to win in all aspects of mixed martial arts. But, her impressive record does not tell the whole story of the "The Bullet" era over the Flyweight Division.

Like many elite champions, Shevchenko likes to advance her time, study in the cage and then attack. In her last fight, Shevchenko made only 16 total strikes in the first round. Then, in Round 2, she threw 23 strikes, 22 of which landed, before ending the fight through TKO.

Murphy turns out to be tough and aggressive. In her last 3 fights, she struck out 48, 48, and 57 in the first round of each fight, respectively.

Overall, Murphy averages 3.9 significant strikes per minute with 40% accuracy. However, her aggressive style tests her chin. Although Murphy never gave up, she absorbed 4.2 major strikes per minute. Murphy prefers a stanf up match-up but is able to clinch and go to the ground.

The straightforward analysis of the statistics is this: Murphy will come out in a potentially aggressive manner against Shevchenko, who is trying to strike and hurt her soon. Meanwhile, Shevchenko will either try to shoot a take-down. Or, more likely, stay outside and move between counter strikes when she reads Murphy's Trends. If the fight reaches two or three rounds,, Shevchenko will have an even bigger advantage because she will have the chanpionship round stamina experience needed to land accurately and to keep up the pressure on Murphy. Champion round fights are a cardio experience.

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