Former UFC Middleweight champion Robert Whittaker is one of the many UFC stars who had trouble understanding Saturday night’s split draw in the main event. The fight was certainly close, he said, but Shevchenko deserved to win, he said.
Pressure Should Have Won Valentina the Fight, Says Robert Whittaker
Speaking to the MMArcade podcast, Whittaker thought that “Bullet” was the one who controlled most of the fight. According to the Unified Rules, damage is higher on the MMA scoring criteria. However, “the Reaper” thought that Valentina’s pressure and jabs won her the fight.
“I certainly think they started out very wary, they started very wary, very respectful of each other’s abilities. I gotta say Shevchenko’s jab is bar none, it was on point the way she utilized it from round one through round five. It was beautiful. She did get dropped but in a scrappy fight, it was fighting, it’s hard to close the distance and get into that scrap distance,” Robert Whittaker said.
Whittaker believed that there was more reason to give Shevchenko the win, especially with how judges see things now. “Me, personally… I probably would have scored it in Shevchenko’s favor and I think she won three of the five but in saying that though it wouldn’t have been mind-blowing for her not to have one for Grasso because she did have some really strong rounds like the round where she knocked down, she finished on Shevchenko’s back… she was pushing, putting a lot of pressure and pressure is I feel in MMA at the moment, it’s been scored very highly,” he said.
Quotes via Middle Easy
The fight was a split draw, and one 10-8 for Grasso in the final round split the scorecards 1 1 and 1. Mike Bell scored the fifth round as a 10-8. Thus, he saw the fight 47-47, while the other judges split between Grasso and Shevchenko.
Had Bell scored the final round as a 10-9, Shevchenko would have won the fight. Regardless, there is argument for both a trilogy and for Grasso to fight a new opponent. Whoever Grasso fights next, it will be one for the ages.
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