Daniel Cormier shocked Valentina Shevchenko has been “making consistent mistakes” in her past two title fights

By Cole Shelton - March 6, 2023

Daniel Cormier is surprised that Valentina Shevchenko has been making plenty of mistakes in her past two title fights.

Valentina Shevchenko

In the co-main event of UFC 285, Shevchenko suffered a fourth-round submission loss to Alexa Grasso to lose her flyweight title. It was a massive upset, and in the fight, Shevchenko tried a spinning kick that resulted in her giving up her back and then geting submitted.

Although the back take was impressive by Grasso, Cormier says it was a bad mistake from Shevchenko. He also pointed out other mistakes that the former champ has been making as of late.

“I never thought I would see Valentina Shevchenko making consistent mistakes,” Cormier said on his YouTube channel (h/t MMAJunkie). “She made mistakes in the last fight against Taila (Santos), trying to score takedowns and rushing them, and she made mistakes tonight. Ultimately, the biggest mistake was trying that spinning back kick from in close.

“The last person I remember doing that was Chris Weidman trying an ill-advised spin kick against Luke Rockhold, got himself taken down and beaten up, which ultimately led to Luke becoming the champion,” Cormier continued about Shevchenko. “Same thing tonight. When Grasso saw that spinning kick, which she said she trained for, she jumped on her back like nothing I’ve ever seen before, and she went crazy trying to chase the finish.”

Even though Daniel Cormier thinks Valentina Shevchenko has been making some bad mistakes, the former champ-champ thinks the Grasso fight is a winnable one for ‘The Bullet’. He points to the success Shevchenko had with her wrestling as something the former champ should look at and build on in the rematch.

“She struggled in the takedown defense, and if she’s going to extend this title reign, she will have to shore that up,” Cormier said. “But she was taken down multiple times but continued to fight. Every time she got to her feet, she did a great job of landing on Shevchenko to the point that Valentina started to make mistakes.”

Do you think Valentina Shevchenko will beat Alexa Grasso in the rematch?


Topics:

Daniel Cormier UFC Valentina Shevchenko