Valentina Shevchenko successfully defended her flyweight title against Liz Carmouche tonight at UFC Fight Night 156 with a relatively uneventful unanimous decision victory.
Round One:
The main event flyweight title fight is underway in Uruguay.
Leg kick for Carmouche. Jab for Shevchenko. Head kick missed from Carmouche and Shevchenko makes her pay for that with a short flurry on the counter.
Leg kick for Shevchenko. Spinning kick upstairs from Shevchenko misses. Leg kick for Carmouche. Punches coming up short from Shevchenko but she lands the leg kick behind them.
Carmouche with a head kick that’s blocked and Shevchenko counters with a leg kick kick.
left hand for Shevchenko. Carmouche lands a body kick. Spinning body kick from Shevchenko comes up short. Leg kick for the champ.
Body kick for Carmouche. One-two for Shevchenko. Another leg kick. Crowd starting to get restless by the lack of action.
Round two:
Jab lands for Shevchenko in close. Now a leg kick. Leg kick for Carmouche. Push kick for Shevchenko. Punches and a kick behind it for Shevchenko.
Head kick for Carmouche comes up short. Carmouche suddenly bursts into a takedown attempt, but Shevchenko defends that with no problem.
Superwoman punch for Shevchenko. Missed head kick from Carmouche. Leg kick for Shevchenko. Probing one-two for Shevchenko. Low kick for Carmouche.
Solid one-two and a leg kick behind it from Shevchenko. Body kick for Carmouche. Again the one-two + leg kick combo from ‘Bullet.’
Front kick to the body from the champion. Spinning backfist lands for her and then two punches behind it.
Carmouche swatting air a lot of the time so far as she struggles to find her range against shevchenko and that’s the final action of the round.
Round Three:
Front kick upstairs from Shevchenko just misses. Body kick for Carmouche. Low kick for Carmouche. Body kick attempt from her now She goes for another leg kick and Shevchenko lands a harder one in response.
leg kick for Shevchenko. Carmouche with one of her own landed low. jab for Shevchenko. Leg kick for Shevchenko. One-two connects.
Another leg kick for Shevchenko after carmouche misses. Carmouche thinking about a kick and eats a left hand that floors her. Shevchenko opts not to go to the mat with her, so the ref stands Carmouche back up.
Carmouche seems fine though. However, Shevchenko then gets a body lock and lands a takedown against the wrestler. Heel kicks to the thigh from Carmouche.
Shevchenko in Carmouche’s full guard, but opting more for control than damage here as she lands little except for a few body punches.
Round Four:
Leg kick for Shevchenko. Body kick for Carmouche lands to the arm of the champion. Carmouche continuing to swat thin air with her punches.
Nice superwoman punch from Shevchenko, then the one-two + leg kick combo. Carmouche commits to a takedown and fails on it. Shevchenko gets on top soon afterwards and is back in full guard with Carmouche chopping at her upper thigh with heel strikes.
Shevchenko attempts to pass guard, but Carmouche keeps her there for now. Now much happening and the ref opts to stand them back up.
Missed kicks for Carmouche. Leg kick for Shevchenko. Spinning backfist from Shevchenko just as Carmouche is thinking about moving in and that drops her for the second time in the fight.
Carmouche on her knees as Shevchenko works to her back. Carmouche gets her back flat on the canvas and Shevchenko is in side control now. Carmouche brings her back to half-guard towards the end of the round.
Round Five:
Head kick attempt from Carmouche is blocked. She lands a leg kick. Missed head kick attempt. Leg kick again for Carmouche.
Outside leg kick for Shevchenko. Carmouche still not finding her range at all with punches. Superwoman punch from Shevchenko.
leg kick for Shevchenko. Carmouche trying for a single leg, but Shevchenko Stuffs that and ends up on top in her opponent’s full guard.
Not much action on the mat with half the final round remaining. still the heel kicks from Carmouche. Shevchenko passes to half-guard.
Carmouche landing light strikes from her back. Shevchenko only firing back with the occasional shot as she continues to prioritize maintaining control of her opponent.
Carmouche kicks Shevchenko off in the final seconds of the round but can’t get back up before the final horn sounds.
Decision:
A dull, uneventful title fight then, but Shevchenko did enough to oustrike and outgrapple Carmouche to secure a unanimous decision victory (50-45 x3).
