LAS VEGAS — Amanda Nunes will headline UFC International Fight Week for the second consecutive year, but this time she’ll enter the octagon as the champion, not the challenger.
Nunes will fight Valentina Shevchenko as she tries to defend the UFC women’s bantamweight belt she won one year ago at UFC 200. The Lioness has fought Shevchenko before, defeating her at UFC 196 via unanimous decision. However, it was Nunes’ only victory decided by judges, and Shevchenko appeared to gain momentum late in that fight after landing a third-round takedown.
With the title fight being five rounds, can Shevchenko use her endurance to her advantage and steal Nunes’ belt? Or can Nunes use her knockout strength to finish the fight early and retain her belt for the second time?
NESN.com’s Andre Khatchaturian and UFC.com’s Matt Parrino met up at UFC headquarters to break down the fight and offer predictions in this week’s edition of the “NESN UFC Show.” They also analyzed the co-main event fight between Yoel Romero and Robert Whittaker for the interim middleweight belt, and examined the trilogy heavyweight fight between Fabricio Werdum and Alistair Overeem.
Watch it all in the video above.
