Dana White praises ‘absolute gangster’ Valentina Shevchenko

Dana White has heaped praise on Valentina Shevchenko following UFC 247.

This past Saturday night, Shevchenko put her UFC women’s flyweight title on the line against Katlyn Chookagian. While Shevchenko’s previous title defense against Liz Carmouche was widely considered to be lackluster, her bout with Chookagian was a different story. Shevchenko ended up scoring a third-round TKO victory.

UFC president Dana White told ESPN’s Marc Raimondi during the post-fight press conference that Shevchenko is someone who very few people want to mess with.

“Absolutely,” White said when asked if he enjoyed Valentina Shevchenko’s performance. “She’s so awesome. She’s such a professional and such a good human being on top of it but at the end of the day man, she’s a gangster. That woman is an absolute gangster. When you got a gun tattooed on your hip, you are somebody not to be f*cked with. She’s so impressive and she looked so good tonight and I look forward to seeing her next fight.”

Shevchenko’s victory over Chookagian marked her third successful title defense. “Bullet” hasn’t suffered a loss since Sept. 2017. She fell short in her rematch with Amanda Nunes via split decision.

The next title challenger for Shevchenko is up in the air. While Joanne Calderwood and Jennifer Maia hold the number three and four spots in the women’s flyweight division respectively, both have suffered a loss to Chookagian. Despite that fact, the UFC may have no choice but to give Calderwood the next shot as Maia is coming off a defeat.

Shevchenko became the inaugural UFC women’s flyweight champion back in Dec. 2018. She defeated former strawweight title holder Joanna Jedrzejczyk via unanimous decision. In her reign, Shevchenko has defeated Jessica Eye, Liz Carmouche, and now Katlyn Chookagian. Two of those title defenses were finishes.

Do you think there are any viable contenders for Valentina Shevchenko?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 2/10/2020.