“I think it goes down similar to how it went down the first time,” Liz Carmouche said of a rematch with Valentina Shevchenko. “The first time I was tricked, honestly, by the commission that I was fighting for, the organization [C3 Fights].
“I was supposed to fight her sister [Antonina], who had just as little experience as I did. Instead, I went against somebody who had 10 years more experience than myself. And it was just at that point, I wasn’t willing to say no for an opportunity to fight so I took it and somehow managed to come out with the win.
“This will be very different,” Carmouche continued. “I’ve been training now for 10 years. I have a lot more experience that I know it will be in my favor without a doubt.”
Current UFC flyweight champion Valentina ‘Bullet’ Shevchenko has only lost three times in her 19 fight MMA career. Two of those having come to the current bantamweight and featherweight champion, Amanda Nunes.
The other person to defeat Shevchenko? None other than the first female fighter to ever make the walk to the Octagon, Liz Carmouche.
The nine-year veteran, Carmouche picked up her second career win at flyweight Saturday at UFC Prague when she earned a unanimous decision victory over the hometown favorite, Lucie Pudilova.
Already being close to title contention after a big win over the former Invicta FC champion and top flyweight, Jennifer Maia, Carmouche just made her case stronger after this most recent win.
However, Jessica Eye appears to be next in line for Shevchenko as she looks to make her first title defense sometime soon. Her manager even said that the fight was a possibility for UFC Prague but Eye wasn’t cleared to compete for that soon of a date.
With Shevchenko and Carmouche both looking to be as active as possible and the UFC continually showing their impatience when it comes to title pictures, maybe this will end up being the next fight for each after all.
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 2/23/2019