Shevchenko talks about beating Joanna 3 times: psychological effects are hard to avoid The 4th defeat is coming

UFC China -- Valentina Shevchenko and Joanna Jedrzejczyk trained in the same boxing gym in Thailand and competed in several consecutive World Muay Thai Championships.

In the 2006 tournament, Shevchenko beat Joanna, and later in 2007. After beating Joanna for the third consecutive time in 2008, Shevchenko chose to rise in weight, leaving the door to joanna the future champion.

Ten years later, shevchenko and Joanna both became leaders in the women's MMA movement. In UFC231, which will be held on December 9, Beijing time, the two will meet again for the vacant women's flyweight title. Although Joanna said that her past 3 defeats in Muay Thai would not affect her performance in UFC 231, Shevchenko was convinced that in Joanna's heart, everything was different.

"She could say it didn't have any effect on her, but the truth is that the effect was huge. People can say whatever they want on the surface, but deep down, the feelings are very different. 3 times I beat her affected everything about her, there's no doubt about that. ”

Shevchenko was supposed to challenge then women's flyweight champion Nicco Montano in UFC 228, but her opponent temporarily withdrew due to health problems caused by weight loss, and the UFC eventually stripped her of the title.

Shevchenko said that he would be happy to be able to compete for 3 months after his plan to challenge the title was postponed for 3 months, and that the opponent was replaced by Joanna, which also made the upcoming championship battle special.

"As a professional fighter, I'm willing to play against any opponent. But I'm tired of the unprofessional behavior of some of my opponents, they can't get the weight up, and their problems have caused me a lot of trouble. It wasn't just me, all the boxing fans and fighting organizations were affected by it. Rather than these unprofessional behaviors, I would rather respond to my opponent's challenges inside the octagonal cage. ”

Shevchenko said that although he and Joanna already had some history in Muay Thai, the relationship between the two was never antagonistic, which was very different from the discord between himself and Amanda Nunes. Perhaps Joanna was very emotional about winning the championship and beating herself for the first time, but Shevchenko didn't think it would bother her.

"I don't think the result will be any different. Sure, Joanna will feel more energetic in the 125-pound game because she doesn't have to lose a lot of weight, but I don't think that will have any impact on the outcome of the game. I've played against taller and stronger opponents (135 pounds), and no one has ever been thinner or more technically mediocre than me, and every time I want to challenge a better guy. No matter how good Joanna feels about herself, I'm ready to beat her, and that's where I'm different. ”

"Of course, I beat her 3 times many years ago and she has improved and changed a lot, there's no doubt about that. But by that day, the final result of the match wouldn't have been any different, and my previous experience in every game would have helped me continue to write the history of beating Joanna. ”(