UFC

Cynthia Calvillo doesn’t believe Zhang Weili should be above Valentina Shevchenko in pound-for-pound rankings

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Zhang Weili and Valentina Shevchenko are champions in their respective UFC divisions

Cynthia Calvillo has a great chance of battling Valentina Shevchenko for the UFC Flyweight title.

Calvillo faces Lauren Murphy at UFC 254 and the winner of that fight should face the dominant Shevchenko.

Cynthia Calvillo poses on the scale during the UFC Fight Night weigh-in at UFC APEX on June 12, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

Shevchenko, for her part, faces Jennifer Maia at UFC 255 and Calvillo was asked for her prediction. The American backed Shevchenko to keep the title but suggested it wasn’t going to be an easy outing for the Bullet:

“Definitely, I still see her being the champion when she fights Jennifer Maia.

“It’s going to be a tough fight for her but I definitely feel like the champ is going to be the champ.”

Calvillo also sounded confident of getting the win over Shevchenko and backed her wrestling skills to be the game-changer:

“I got some really good grappling and I am definitely going to be the one to dethrone her.”

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Weili needs to defend her title more

The pound-for-pound women’s rankings sees Amanda Nunes stay on top and not many could debate that.

However, Shevchenko is ranked below Zhang who is ranked second. The Chinese star last defeated Joanna Jedrzejczyk in an incredible bout but Shevchenko has had more title defences under her belt.

Valentina Shevchenko celebrates her KO victory over Jessica Eye in their women’s flyweight championship bout during the UFC 238 event at the United Center on June 8, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images) (UFC)

Calvillo was asked if this was alright or not and she claimed that Shevchenko should be the No.2:

“No, I wouldn’t say yet. She has to defend her belt a couple of more times. It is all depending on how many times you defended your belt.

“It’s a deeper division, I think that its more competitive, but the Flyweight division is getting spicy and definitely not deserving to be in front of Valentina.”

Zhang is to face Rose Namajunas in a title defence and it will be interesting to see how that goes. The Chinese star has been in great shape but Namajunas is a tough cookie to crack.

Shevchenko will also go down as one of the greatest ever, and it will be interesting to see who faces her next, Murphy or Calvillo.

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Saiyed Adeem Karim

Ditching a corporate job to follow a dream isn't easy, but when football comes calling, who can say no? Been following the beautiful game since 1998. Liverpool addict, F1 fanatic!

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