Huvudmatchen mellan Liz Carmouche (13-7 MMA, 5-5 UFC) och Valentina Shevchenko (18-3 MMA, 7-2 UFC) under UFC Fight Night 156 blev ingen höjdarmatch direkt. Titelmatchen i flugvikt var en ganska passiv historia, då utmanaren Liz Carmouche ständigt höll sig väldigt långt från mästaren. Hon höll sig utanför sparkdistans men backade likaväl direkt mästaren rörde sig framåt. Detta resulterade i att Shevchenko inte heller fick in särskilt mycket och såg stundtals frustrerad ut, även om mästaren var en solklar vinnare.
”I didn’t execute either”
I en intervju efter matchen så förklarade Carmouche varför matchen såg ut som den gjorde och hur tankarna gått efter matchen. Detta via MMAJunkie.
“I don’t think that there’s blame to be had. To her end, I didn’t execute either, so it was on both of our parts it negated our ability to do anything.”
Shevchenkos senaste match på UFC 238 slutade med en spark rakt i planeten på Jessica Eye. Detta var något som Carmouche reflekterat över och förväntade sig att Shevchenko skulle vara mer aggressiv. Hon fortsätter.
”I wasn’t tired at all”
“I absolutely anticipated that she would be a lot more aggressive. I think that because of the style that I was doing was throwing her off that she would be much more resilient in it and more aggressive instead of being more cautious in this fight.”
“There’s a lot of things I did correctly. I felt the healthiest I’ve felt going into a fight. Going into the fifth round, I wasn’t tired at all. I think a lot of people anticipated that I wouldn’t be able to go into the fifth round. And as I said many times, I always train to do five rounds. I don’t train to do three rounds. I didn’t feel tired at all.
“I think I did a lot of things correctly, did a lot of things my coaches helped me to do tonight. I just felt like tonight she had a better gameplan and executed her gameplan.”
“Of course (this being my last title fight is) always in the back of my mind. Even after the first one, I wondered if I would have another opportunity. After this one, I look at it, and I just need to keep making the improvements.”
