{"id":220015,"date":"2017-01-29T06:50:19","date_gmt":"2017-01-29T14:50:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=220015"},"modified":"2017-01-29T06:50:55","modified_gmt":"2017-01-29T14:50:55","slug":"pros-react-valentina-shevchenkos-submission-julianna-pena","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/valentina-shevchenko\/pros-react-valentina-shevchenkos-submission-julianna-pena\/","title":{"rendered":"Pros react to Valentina Shevchenko’s submission of Julianna Pena"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last night, the UFC touched down in The Mile-High City, Denver, Colorado, with UFC on Fox 23<\/a>. This 12-fight card was an epic one, as a whopping eight of its bouts ended with stoppages, including the evening’s main event, which pitted Kyrgyzstani striker Valentina Shevchenko against American grappling specialist Julianna Pe\u00f1a.<\/p>\n

In advance of this fight, the striking advantage seemed to rely firmly in the corner of Shevchenko, while Pe\u00f1a was believed to have an advantage on the mat. Ultimately, however, Shevchenko was able to showcase some real evolutions in her game, taking Pe\u00f1a down twice in the first round, and submitting her with a dazzling armbar in the second<\/a>. The tap occurred at the 4:29 mark of the second frame.<\/p>\n

With this win, Shevchenko extended her win-streak to two, as she out duelled former bantamweight champion and upcoming featherweight challenger Holly Holm in her second most recent fight. Her last loss occurred in March of 2016, when she gave up a close decision to Amanda Nunes, who she will now rematch for the UFC women’s bantamweight crown sometime in 2017. With her submission of Pe\u00f1a, the Kyrgyzstani talent is now 14-2 in sum.<\/p>\n

In defeat, Pe\u00f1a returns to the loss column after four straight wins. Prior to her bout with Shevchenko, she had not lost inside the Octagon, defeating Jessica Rakoczy, Milana Dudieva, Jessica Eye and Cat Zingano<\/a> in her first four bouts with the organization. She’s now 8-3 overall, and will have to impress with another big win or two before she’s talked about as a potential title challenger again.<\/p>\n

Here’s how the MMA community reacted to Valentina Shevchenko’s surprising submission defeat of Julianna Pe\u00f1a.<\/p>\n

\n

Valentina looks bigger physically. Strong. Julianna has to change it up a little. Round 1 to Valentina<\/p>\n

— Daniel Cormier (@dc_mma) January 29, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n