Valentina Shevchenko

Calls her 'much better everywhere' with 'a perfect style' for a dominant showing, and commits to a specific scorecard (four rounds to one); the one hedge that it 'could' prove competitive is immediately followed by him predicting 'a clear winner.'

A solid striker in a different style from her opponent: really fast, high-volume kicking (teep, leg kick, a shuffle-step kick used to pad output while keeping an opponent's attention on her legs), good counter-striking that the analyst flags as important if Zhang drops her hands, clean combinations mixing punches and kicks, and durability shown over a long career. In the clinch she shares trips and brutal knees with her opponent. Her grappling has specifically developed in the later part of her career (roughly the last ten or so fights): she is good at catching kicks and converting them into trips or a body lock, good control, and particularly strong working to the mounted-crucifix position, by far her best spot, to land ground-and-pound. The analyst sees her style as a near-perfect matchup, favoring her across the board.

He states the pick directly as Shevchenko and repeats the same pick at the close; he frames her as the underdog here, built on her kick-catching into trips/bodylock and her top-game dominance.

Longtime division champion with a handful of losses, all to elite-level opposition, and a win-back over the same rival he calls Grao. Solid, durable striker with fast kicks, a strong leg kick/teep/shuffle-kick volume game, good counter combinations, and a clinch built around trips and brutal knees. Her grappling path here is not shooting conventional takedowns but catching Fiorot's kicks into a trip or bodylock, then dominating on top with control, ground-and-pound and the crucifix.

He states plainly that he thinks Shevchenko wins based on a cumulative-rounds-won argument across their two prior meetings; the specific crucifix/TKO round call is explicitly framed as a fun, self-described 'wild call' on the method only, not a hedge on the winner.

A very well-rounded, high-level striker across multiple disciplines, with fast kicks and a good teep as her best weapons, an effective leg-kick-to-shuffle-kick combination, a very good counter game, and flawless punch-kick combinations. She is incredibly durable and reads opponents well, adjusting her gameplan on the fly. Her clinch is solid, with very good trips and brutal knees, and she is expected to be the stronger clinch fighter in this specific matchup. Her grappling has had success catching kicks into takedowns and getting to a mounted-crucifix ground-and-pound position, which is her signature finishing spot -- very hard to escape once she is there. One discipline, her boxing specifically, is named as the tougher part of her striking for this particular matchup. As of 2024-09-11.

The analyst explicitly frames this as a hard call -- weighing the fighter who actually won the first meeting against the one he thinks controlled more of its minutes -- before settling on Shevchenko. The deciding argument is general rather than a specific technical mechanism: he rates her fight-to-fight adjustment ability among the best of any woman on the roster, and trusts she has fixed whatever cost her the first fight. That acknowledged difficulty plus the absence of a named technical edge (as opposed to a clear round/skill case) keeps this at lean rather than clear.

A high-level striker with very fast, varied kicks (teeps, leg kicks, a subtle shuffle kick) that generate real volume, backed by good counter striking from her speed/accuracy and genuine durability -- she can eat shots and keep working. In the clinch and on the mat she is a kick-catcher who converts caught kicks into trips or a body lock, favors the crucifix for ground-and-pound, and lands brutal knees with good control and pressure from the clinch. The analyst's single biggest compliment is that she reads opponents exceptionally well and adjusts -- and his single biggest criticism of her is that one misread (a spinning attack) cost her the previous fight and the title. Her grappling weakness is a lack of takedown defense, attributed to how she gets drawn forward into her own striking.

names this a clear pick, a justified favorite, and feels good about it

A high-level, very accurate striker whose defining trait is simply not getting hit -- well below average strikes absorbed per minute -- which the analyst says makes her hard to beat on its own. A complete striker who can work every level and style and mix in wrestling/ground-and-pound ('nasty') when she chooses.