UFC 261 Aftermath: Valentina Shevchenko is the Most Complete Fighter in the UFC
After another brilliant effort on Saturday night, the flyweight champion has cemented herself as the best all-around talent on the UFC roster
Standing in the center of the Octagon on Saturday night following another successful defence of her flyweight title, Valentina Shevchenko offered a message to anyone hoping to challenge her in the future.
“I want to say one thing,” she began. “While my opponents try to figure out what is a weakness of mine — don’t waste your time; this is not one.”
Statements like that have a tendency to set Twitter alight, as fans, media, critics, casuals flex their thumbs to get off counter-arguments picking apart such incendiary words, but that didn’t happen on Saturday night.
It didn’t happen because Shevchenko was speaking facts, and everyone knew it.
Valentina Shevchenko is the most complete fighter in the UFC.
Not the most complete female fighter — the most complete fighter, period, full stop. She literally ticks all the boxes:
Striking? Check.
Wrestling? Check.
Grappling? Check.
Speed? Check.
Strength? Check.
Power? Check.
Technique? Check.
Footwork? Check.
Conditioning? Check.
Fight IQ? Check.
Focus? Check.
Championship Mettle? Check.
Resilience? Check.
Her bout with Jessica Andrade on Saturday was supposed to be her toughest test since relocating to the flyweight division; a clash with a former strawweight champion with established power and strength that could, if things went right and she was able to execute effectively, get inside and potentially cause Shevchenko some problems with her slams and heavy punches.
Instead, it turned into another drubbing, with “Bullet” showcasing her wrestling and strength, taking Andrade down at will, completing seven takedowns in just over eight minutes of fight time, ultimately using the final body lock to land in side control, advance to a mounted crucifix position and rain down punches and elbows on a helpless Andrade until referee Dan Miragliotta was forced to step in and halt the action.
Over the course of the eight-minute-and-19-second fight, Shevchenko landed 82% significant strikes she threw (30/39) and 93% of her total strikes (90/97), along with her perfect takedown percentage.
If you just happened to tune in and knew nothing about the combatants, you would have questioned why that poor Brazilian girl was being sacrificed to such an unstoppable marauder.
Shevchenko turned what many anticipated to be her most difficult challenge to date in the flyweight division into a Saturday evening squash match, taking the fight to Andrade right out of the gate, giving her no chance to get off any offence of her own, and finishing things without breaking a sweat.
While the effort left many rightfully wondering who could possible offer the dominant champion a challenge in the future, it left me trying to figure out who else might have a case for being as complete a talent as Shevchenko, and honestly, I couldn’t come up with many.
Those with a reasonable argument for being the most complete fighter in the UFC right now, in addition to Shevchenko (in order of weight classes):
Jon Jones
Jan Blachowicz
Robert Whittaker
Kamaru Usman
Dustin Poirier
Alexander Volkanovski
Amanda Nunes
That’s a much smaller list than I expected to generate when I first started working my way through the roster and the rankings, but for the majority of fighters — including some current and former champions — there is something that trips them up.
Conor McGregor is the biggest star in the sport and a former two-division world champion, but he doesn’t earn a tick in the wrestling or grappling boxes. You could also make a case for his having questionable focus as well, but that mostly pertains to life outside the cage and preparation, and not necessarily how things transpire once he’s in the thick of it inside the Octagon.
Francis Ngannou is a terrifying figure atop the heavyweight ranks, but most of that stems from his rare combination of power and speed. He’s working to round out his skill set and become a much more complete fighter, and we’re seeing the fruits of those labours, but he’s not there yet.
Israel Adesanya is an outstanding talent, but lacking in the wrestling and grappling departments as well, while Colby Covington ticks a lot of the boxes, but has never displayed any consistent power in his hands.
Deiveson Figueiredo, Aljamain Sterling, and Petr Yan all exhibit a number of high level skills, but each has an area or two where they fall short of earning that “complete fighter” designation.
The seven short-listed fighters above all have a case for being considered the most complete fighter in the UFC, but you can also get nit-picky with each of them as well if you wanted to find a way to make your case, which is how these things usually work.
Jones isn’t really a power guy.
Blachowicz isn’t particularly quick.
Whittaker has zero submission victories in the UFC.
Usman is still a work-in-progress as a striker, though it’s coming along really well.
Poirier has had too many losses to be considered.
Volkanovski hasn’t really shown a grappling prowess.
Nunes’ conditioning will always come under question, even if she’s proven to have addressed it.
Admittedly, you could poke holes in Shevchenko’s candidacy the same way, arguing that her knockout win over Jessica Eye was more about her striking acumen, technique, and IQ instead of power.
No case is ever air-tight. No resume is ever perfect.
But these eight athletes are all pretty close.
Ultimately, like any ranking exercise or hierarchical debate, it’s a completely subjective venture where only a small group of competitors legitimately deserve consideration, and cases for and against can be made in regards to all of them.
There are many wrong answers, but no singular correct one, which is a big part of why we love these activities as much as we do.
On Saturday night, after watching her treat Jessica Andrade like she had no business being in the Octagon with her and declaring she had no weaknesses, I was certain that Valentina Shevchenko is the most complete fighter in the UFC.
Two days later, I still feel that way, and it’s going to take a lot to convince me otherwise.
Feel free to present you cases in the comments section.