AMANDA NUNES (15-4) IS still the UFC women’s bantamweight champion but she was pushed all the way yet again by Valentina Shevchenko (14-3) at UFC 215.
Nunes defied the split scorecards to make her second successful defence of the strap which she claimed from Miesha Tate in July of last year at UFC 200.
Last night in Edmonto, Alberta, the Brazilian was awarded the victory on scores of 47-48, 48-47, 48-47. However, her Kyrgyzstani opponent wasn’t happy with the judges afterwards.
“I always respect the judges but I totally disagree with the decision tonight,” Shevchenko said. “I won rounds two, three and four and her takedowns were not effective. I will be back to fight for the belt again because that is my belt.”
Nunes earned her shot at the title by scoring a unanimous-decision victory at Shevchenko’s expense over three rounds at UFC 196 in March 2016. After the aforementioned win against Tate, she stopped Ronda Rousey via TKO in her inaugural title defence in December.
“I thought it was a clear victory for me,” the champion said last night. “She landed a few good punches but I dominated the rounds and, in the last round, I took her down and kept her there to seal the deal.”
Elsewhere on last night’s card, there were also big wins for Rafael dos Anjos, Henry Cejudo, Ilir Latifi and Jeremy Stephens.
Dos Anjos and Cejudo each picked up $50,000 ‘Performance of the Night’ bonuses, while Stephens and Gil Melendez were also rewarded with ‘Fight of the Night’ cheques to the same value.
UFC 215 results
- Amanda Nunes def. Valentina Shevchenko via split decision (47-48, 48-47, 48-47)
- Rafael dos Anjos def. Neil Magny via submission (arm-triangle choke) after 3:43 of round one
- Henry Cejudo def. Wilson Reis via TKO (punches) after 0:25 of round two
- Ilir Latifi def. Tyson Pedro via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
- Jeremy Stephens def. Gilbert Melendez via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-25)
- Ketlen Vieira def. Sara McMann via submission (arm-triangle choke) after 4:16 of round two
- Sarah Moras def. Ashlee Evans-Smith via submission (armbar) after 2:51 of round one
- Rick Glenn def. Gavin Tucker via unanimous decision (30-25, 30-24, 29-27)
- Alex White def. Mitch Clarke via TKO (punches) after 4:36 of round two
- Arjan Bhullar def. Luis Henrique via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Kajan Johnson def. Adriano Martins via KO (punch) after 0:49 of round three