UFC 215 is full of fighters that have fallen out with Dana White. In the headline positions you have Amanda Nunes, who was medically cleared to fight Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 213. It also has Demetrious Johnson, who has fallen out with the organisation after refusing to fight Demetrious Johnson.
Nunes was cleared to fight medically before UFC 213, but backed out due to feeling unwell prior to the fight. Whether that pull-out will affect her mentally in this rescheduling, only time will tell. Both fighters are top-notch strikers, so this could be an interesting fight if they both stay on their feet throughout the rounds.
Amanda Nunes’ form
The last time Nunes was in the octagon, she absolutely devoured Ronda Rousey. It was Rousey’s last fight and if truth is told, we don’t know if she was really into it. She didn’t look like the Ronda Rousey of old. She looked like a fighter that was ready to retire, so Nunes may not be as good as she looked that night.
Prior to that fight, she showed off her supreme skills with an excellent victory against Miesha Tate. Once again, Tate has since revealed that she was considering retirement at the time.
We are not saying that she isn’t a brilliant fighter, but we are saying that fighting against martial artists who don’t want to be there is an easier task than fighting against those that do.
Valentina Shevchenko’s form
The Peruvian has won fourteen of her fights in her career so far, but Shevchenko has also lost two fights. One of those fights was against her opponent at UFC 215 – she lost that bout in an unanimous decision.
It will be interesting to see if she has improved enough to defeat Nunes. That fight happened on that famous night that Nate Diaz took out Conor McGregor. Nunes was brilliant on that night and if she can recreate that performance, then she has a great chance of holding onto her title.
Since that fight, Shevchenko has been incredibly impressive, picking up two wins.
News
The headlines have been dominated by Nunes removing herself from the original fight and how she decided not to fight against Shevchenko. Shevchenko was ready to fight that night and was more than willing to take on Nunes.
Nunes’ critics reckon she is afraid to take on Shevchenko after the pair put up such a good performance at that McGregor v Diaz fight night. Dana White certainly wasn’t happy and thought that Nunes let the company and herself down by pulling out.
Betting
We don’t think Nunes is completely fine from a psychological stand point, so it’s difficult to point to her a potential victor here. Meanwhile, Shevchenko has looked immense since giving up that loss at UFC 196.
Thus, we are going to have to go with the challenger. She is priced at 10/11 with Betway and after her supreme performance against Penna in her last fight, we think she can go one better and pick up the victory here.
She has looked like a champion for a while now, so we would not be surprised to see her become one at UFC 215.