Valentina Shevchenko rooting for ex-foe Julianna Peña to beat Kayla Harrison at UFC 316
Valentina Shevchenko rooting for ex-foe Julianna Peña to beat Kayla Harrison at UFC 316
Valentina Shevchenko thinks Julianna Peña is being counted out at UFC 316.
Peña (13-5 MMA, 8-3 UFC) defends her bantamweight title against Kayla Harrison (18-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) in Saturday's co-main event (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.
Despite only having two UFC fights, Harrison is a big favorite over Peña. However, Shevchenko expects Peña's championship experience to play a big factor.
"If you see my previous fight against Manon (Fiorot), she had 12 wins without (a loss), non-stop, and she was thinking that a championship fight was going to be the same," Shevchenko told ESPN MMA. "But a championship fight is not the same. You will face different challenges, and I feel the same way. This is my main event at UFC 316, it's Julianna Peña against Kayla Harrison. I feel the same way that it's going to be a completely different fight for Kayla Harrison, and she will feel completely different.
"Because Julianna, she possesses this ability to win, to turn the fight from a position where she's uncomfortable to comfortable and win the fight. She isn't scared of grappling because she can submit from any position, and she can turn upside down. It's very hard actually to take her down. It's very hard to knock her down because she has very good defense, very good and strong head."
Shevchenko holds a submission win over Peña in January 2017. She admits that she's a fan of her former opponent, and praises "The Venezuelan Vixen" for her will to win, which she sees helping her prevail over Harrison.
"Me being a former opponent of Julianna, on the personal side, I definitely like her style and I like her a lot because of how she's acting, her character, her personality," Shevchenko continued. "I wish both fighters a lot of success to win, but I will be rooting for Julianna. I think she deserves, and I think she has everything to win because she wants it, and this is the most important thing. Definitely Kayla wants it, too, but I feel like Julianna will do everything double to win and secure the fight."
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