UFC on Fox 20 results: Valentina Shecvhenko defeats Holly Holm

Valentina Shevchenko is officially a contender in the women’s bantamweight division. The Muay Thai world champion defeated Holly Holm by unanimous decision in the main event of UFC on Fox 20, using a beautiful counterstriking game to stifle and frustrate the former champ. All three judges had it 49-46 for Shevchenko.

Shevchenko accounted for  herself well in the first round, but was the victim of a clean knockdown by the right hand of her opponent:

That was the only round Holm won though. In the second, Shevchenko really found her range and kept Holm from using her hands too much. She used a counter right hook to perfection, and almost scored with a cool counter spinning back-fist:

She just missed with that same spin early in the third. The counter right was on point again, as was her jab. Shevchenko caught a kick and swept Holm to the ground, but she got up quickly – just to go back down again. Holm had a cut over her right eye as well. Shevchenko didn’t do much withe the position, but the ref didn’t stand them up.

The fourth round saw Holly come out with more aggression, but she still ate a bunch of counters and really couldn’t get a lot going. It was closer than the second and third though. Still, it looked like Shevchenko’s fight to lose going into the final stanza.

Holly continued to fight at the end of her range in the fifth, never landing anything of authority except for a few kicks. Meanwhile, Shevchenko was scoring with counters, showing off with wheel kicks, and generally controlling the distance perfectly. Holly did score with a nice punch/kick combo with about a minute to go. Holm pressed the action late, but missed with pretty much everything she threw.

It was Shevchenko’s fight