Dana White ‘absolutely’ impressed by Valentina Shevchenko’s UFC 247 win: ‘She’s a gangster’

Dana White ‘absolutely’ impressed by Valentina Shevchenko’s UFC 247 win: ‘She’s a gangster’

Dana White ‘absolutely’ impressed by Valentina Shevchenko’s UFC 247 win: ‘She’s a gangster’
MMA

Dana White ‘absolutely’ impressed by Valentina Shevchenko’s UFC 247 win: ‘She’s a gangster’

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Six months after a lackluster title defense in Uruguay, Valentina Shevchenko went back to “gangster” mode at Saturday night’s UFC 247, dominating and finishing Katlyn Chookagian by technical knockout in the third round in Houston.

“Bullet” Shevchenko remains unbeaten as a 125-pounder, which includes four title bouts, and her performance against Chookagian had UFC President Dana White “absolutely” impressed.

“She’s so awesome, she’s such a professional and such a good human being on top of it,” White said at the post-fight press conference at the Toyota Center. “The end of the day, man, she’s a gangster. That woman is an absolute gangster. When you got a gun tattooed on your hip, you’re somebody not to be f*cked with, you know what I’m saying?”

White wouldn’t commit on saying who will be the next woman in line for the flyweight championship, but noted that Shevchenko was “so impressive and she looked so good tonight, and I look forward to seeing her next fight.”

In an era where UFC champions have more freedom to switch weight classes and pursue second belts, White slowed down the talks of a potential trilogy between Shevchenko and two-division queen Amanda Nunes.

“The Lioness” is the current UFC 135-pound and 145-pound titleholder and holds a pair of decision victories over Shevchenko in 2016 and 2017. Those are the only losses on Shevchenko’s UFC record, but her own stretch of dominance has built buzz around a trilogy bout.

That said, White would rather see Nunes, Shevchenko and strawweight powerhouse Zhang Weili defend their belts before thinking about more champion vs. champion clashes inside the Octagon.

“I think there’s a lot of things you can do with the three of them,” White said. “I like the idea of them staying in their division right now and doing their thing. We’ll see what happens in the future.”