After 12-straight title fights, a super-fight might be in store for Valentina Shevchenko.
The UFC women’s flyweight champion started her second title reign without a hitch, nearly finishing Manon Fiorot on the way to a closely-contested unanimous decision victory in the UFC 315 co-main event.
France’s Fiorot was a brand new face for Valentina Shevchenko, who had to fight former champ Alexa Grasso three times in a row before she got her belt back at UFC 306 in September.
Following her eighth successful title defense at 125lbs, Shevchenko fielded a call-out from the division below: strawweight champion Zhang Weili.
Zhang Weili says ‘it’s destiny’ to challenge Valentina Shevchenko
At #1, Shevchenko is the only woman ranked higher than Zhang in the pound-for-pound rankings.
In a super-fight that’s long been talked about, Zhang wouldn’t mind fighting Shevchenko to decide who the real pound-for-pound queen is.
“Congratulations to the champion,” Zhang wrote in an Instagram comment.
“Everything has lined up perfectly, it’s destiny,” Zhang alluded to a flyweight move for a second title.
While in separate divisions, ‘Magnum’ and ‘Bullet’ have been on a bit of a collision course for a while now as both ladies have defended their titles multiple times at 115lbs and 125lbs, cleaning out their divisions.
However, there are still contenders waiting for the champions’ return.
Valentina Shevchenko says she might let ‘OnlyFans’ decide her next opponent
Natalia Silva cemented herself as the flyweight division’s #1 contender with a dominant win over Alexa Grasso, the only fighter to have defeated Shevchenko at the weight class.
Silva is undefeated in the UFC at 6-0, a bright, young contender at 28 years old with a previous win over former champion Jessica Andrade.
In a response to Zhang Weili’s call-out, Shevchenko considered letting her fans decide her next opponent between the champion and new #1 contender Silva on the subscription-based social media platform ‘OnlyFans’.
“Maybe fans can play some role in that,” Shevchenko said at the UFC 315 post-fight press conference.
“If they can join my OnlyFans page and drop some messages on who they wanna see me fight next…
“We’ll compare who’s next,” Shevchenko added.
Well, that’s one way to promote your OnlyFans…