Sherdog’s Top 10: Greatest Title Reigns

9. Valentina Shevchenko

UFC Flyweight Champion, 2018-2023

Sherdog's runner-up for the greatest pound-for-pound female fighter ever—and my own pick for No. 1 on that list—cracks yet another prestigious list. An outstanding counter-striker with highly technical kickboxing, Shevchenko also developed some of the very best grappling WMMA has ever seen, able to repeatedly pick up and slam elite wrestlers like Liz Carmouche and Jessica Andrade, and finish foes with either ground-and-pound or a submission. Additionally, she has fantastic cardio and is one of the most brilliant fighters, male or female, showing outstanding patience and decision-making at all times and implementing clever gameplans with discipline and detail.

Despite being at worst the second-best bantamweight and beating Amanda Nunes in most peoples' eyes, mine included, Shevchenko dropped down to the newly created women's flyweight division and become a dominant champion with seven title defenses, only the last of which was close. That includes a five-round domination of fellow legend Joanna Jedrzejczyk to win the crown, knockouts of Jessica Eye, Katlyn Chookagian, Lauren Murphy and Andrade, gaining revenge against future Bellator champion Carmouche with an easy five-round decision, a decisive decision over Jennifer Maia, and a very close split over Taila Santos in her final defense, indicating that at 34, the rest of the division had finally caught up to her. Indeed, Shevchenko finally lost her crown to Alexa Grasso this year. I wrote about the fight in detail, and this was very much a case of a challenger fighting exceptionally well and winning the title rather than the champion underperforming and losing it. Whether she regains her throne or not, Shevchenko has already set an enviable standard of greatness in the flyweight division.

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