How Do These Two Bantamweights Match Up
It should make for a really interesting fight, these two are pretty opposite. Nunes is an aggressive fighter that pushes forward and fights at range. Shevchenko sacrifices range, is more of a slow starter, but is very technical and has great endurance.
Striking
| Amanda Nunes | Valentina Shevchenko |
|---|---|
 |  |
At first glance the successful strike percentage seems pretty even. Nunes with 54% of her strikes landing and Shevchenko with 51% of her strikes landing. However let's look at the type of strikes. Nunes has far more ground strikes than Shevchenko. You gotta think that Nunes would have a higher striking accuracy when it comes to ground strikes than standing strikes, simply because a grounded opponent can't really slip punches. This brings down her standing striking accuracy to a number lower than 54%.
Another thing to notice is Nunes's lack of strikes thrown in the clinch. This isn't surprising, Nunes is great at utilizing her reach and fighting from a distance. Shevchanko who has a background in Muay Thai utilizes the clinch a lot more. This will be important in this fight, a clinch negates Nunes's reach advantage.
Lastly let's compare their defense. Unsurprisingly the more aggressive fighter has less defense while the more technical fighter has more defense. However Nunes is known for her accuracy. It's tough to say if Shevchenko can really make Nunes miss 60% of the time.
Grappling
| Amanda Nunes | Valentina Shevchenko |
|---|---|
 |  |
In terms of the grappling, they're pretty similar when it comes to the numbers. The less technical Nunes unsurprisingly has a lower takedown accuracy. However, interestingly both of them boast a pretty decent 73% takedown defense.
I'm expecting most of this fight to happen on the feet but if does go to the ground the fight is still pretty unpredictable. One the one hand Nunes is physically larger and stronger and should have an advantage grappling. However, Shevchenko demonstrated she can grapple bigger stronger opponents like Holly Holm and submit grappling specialists like Juliana Pena so it's still very much a toss up
Final Words
I'm really looking forward to this fight. Their first encounter was very exciting and left us with a lot of questions. Now we get a 5 round bout that'll settle the beef. I'm rooting for Shevchenko, I've always been a fan of The Bullet, but I definitely wouldn't be counting Nunes out. This is a tough match up for both fighters.
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