UFC flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko has only suffered three losses in her 20-fight MMA career. She has fallen twice to two-division champion Amanda Nunes and the other time to Liz Carmouche, the woman she will defend the title against in the main event of UFC Fight Night Uruguay.
 
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Their first fight, which took place in September of 2010, ended after the second round when the doctor stopped the fight due to a cut near the eye suffered by Shevchenko.
 
The flyweight champion does not put any stock into that defeat.
 
“This victory that she has over me, it’s not because of her strengths or anything that she has, it was just a coincidental thing,” Shevchenko told the TSN MMA Show. “It was just a detail, a cut and it wasn’t a cut because of a strong punch or a kick or whatever, it was a heel that landed in the wrong place and this is the reason the victory went to the other side.” 
 
“I wanted to continue, in my opinion, yes it was bleeding, but I was still able to fight. The doctor stopped the fight, they decided the other way that’s why what happened, happened. O.K. she’s strong, O.K. she’s a wrestler, but I’m an MMA fighter, I’m a complete fighter. She can wrestle well, but I can wrestle well and fight well and do everything well. There is nothing extraordinary in the game, I’m ready for it.”
 
One could argue in fact that Shevchenko is an extraordinary part of the game. Since returning to the 125 lbs division, she holds a one-sided victory over Priscila Cachoeira, a win over former strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk that earned her the at the time vacant flyweight belt and a title defence against Jessica Eye where she knocked her opponent clean out with a vicious head kick.
 
Even her other two losses were a close unanimous decision and an even closer split decision both at the hands of current bantamweight and featherweight champion Nunes.
 
Across the cage however, will be Carmouche, who not only holds the win over the defending champion, but has a few other impressive lines on her resume as well.
 
The 35-year-old is taking her second run at a title in the UFC, she was also part of the promotion’s first ever women’s match, where she failed to win the bantamweight title from Ronda Rousey.
 
“I love being the underdog,” Carmouche told the Las Vegas Journal-Review. “That means the climb to the top is that much sweeter.”
 
Carmouche has won four of her last five bouts, including victories over Lauren Murphy, Katlyn Chookagian, Jennifer Maia and Lucie Pudilova.
 
Her only loss during the stretch coming at the hands of Canadian Alexis Davis in her flyweight debut.​