live blog<\/a> below.<\/p>\nReferee Marc Goddard oversees this megafight.<\/p>\n
First blood for Zhang as she lands a good right. Shevchenko staying very still before unleashing a body kick. Lunging left from Shevchenko. Exchange of punches, Zhang rushes in to grapple, Shevchenko hits a knee to the body and gets a takedown. Zhang has her arms locked on Shevchenko from the bottom, not letting her posture up. Shevchenko methodically working to pass. Zhang up, but Shevchenko gets her with another knee to the body.<\/p>\n
Spinning elbow from Shevchenko, perfectly timed as Zhang was moving in to clinch. Two big shots scored by Shevchenko in this opening round. They\u2019re wrestling along the fence. Shevchenko just muscles Zhang down and she\u2019s on top in side control. Shevchenko with some short ground-and-pound and she rides out the round in control.<\/p>\n
MMA Fighting scores the round 10-9, Shevchenko.<\/p>\n
Shevchenko with a leg kick as Zhang marches forward again. Zhang just misses with a spinning backfist. Slick 1-2 from Shevchenko. They clash, Shevchenko sneaks in another knee to the body before wrestling Zhang down. Shevchenko advances to side control and Zhang is stuck to the mat. Shevchenko working to secure crucifix position. She briefly has it and Zhang fights out of it. A lot of energy being expended by the smaller fighter.<\/p>\n
This is masterful top control from Shevchenko. It\u2019s not as if Zhang isn\u2019t working from bottom either, Shevchenko is just giving her nothing to work with. Zhang works to get Shevchenko into full guard, but Shevchenko passes again. Shoulder thrusts from top position can\u2019t feel good for Zhang. Two dominant rounds for Shevchenko.<\/p>\n
MMA Fighting scores the round 10-9, Shevchenko. Overall, 20-18 Shevchenko.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s see what Zhang has in her bag of tricks here. Shevchenko cracks her with a body kick. She is content to stay at distance and force Zhang to make a move. Zhang\u2019s right hand falls well short. She steps into range and immediately eats a Shevchenko right. Spin kick to the body by Shevchenko, she is cruising. Zhang hits a body kick, but gets in too close and they\u2019re grappling again. Shevchenko throwing up a high knee to bother Zhang. Zhang lands an elbow as they separate.<\/p>\n
Shevchenko again with the knee to the body of an incoming Zhang. Shevchenko catches a kick and secures a body lock and down Zhang goes again. Ninety seconds left in this round, Shevchenko could ride it out again. Not a lot of room for Zhang to move as she\u2019s pressed to the fence. Shevchenko just sitting in Zhang\u2019s half guard as she puts another round in the books.<\/p>\n
MMA Fighting scores the round 10-9, Shevchenko. Overall, 30-27 Shevchenko.<\/p>\n
Loud body kick from Shevchenko and those are affecting Zhang. And there\u2019s another one. High kick backs Zhang up. Shevchenko is getting loose on the feet. Knee to the body and an elbow by Shevchenko. Zhang needs to get something going soon. Shevchenko with a front kick, just driving those toes into Zhang\u2019s midsection. Zhang with a body kick, but once again she ventures forward only to take a clean right. This is all Shevchenko.<\/p>\n
Shevchenko with a 1-2. Even with this round staying on the feet, Shevchenko has dictated the action. Just as I write that, she catches a kick and takes Zhang down. That will secure the round as time ticks away. Shevchenko sitting in half control and the shutout continues.<\/p>\n
MMA Fighting scores the round 10-9, Shevchenko. Overall, 40-36 Shevchenko.<\/p>\nZhang not giving up, but as soon as she flurries and gets close, Shevchenko just grabs her. The grappling ends in a stalemate and they\u2019re back in the middle of the octagon. Zhang lands a punch and comes forward, but there\u2019s Shevchenko with another clinch. Body lock from Shevchenko, Zhang fights it, but down she goes.<\/p>\n
Shevchenko so heavy on top, this one looks like it\u2019s over even with more than two minutes still to go. Zhang doing what she can from bottom, but the energy isn\u2019t there anymore and Shevchenko has had her number on the ground from the opening bell. And still.<\/p>\n
MMA Fighting scores the round 10-9, Shevchenko. Overall, 50-45 Shevchenko.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Watch Valentina Shevchenko vs. Zhang Weili full fight video highlights from their UFC 322 co-main event showdown Saturday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":286760,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,701,44,41,39,42,40,640,702,3194],"class_list":{"0":"post-286759","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-latest-news","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-top-news","12":"tag-top-stories","13":"tag-topnews","14":"tag-topstories","15":"tag-ufc","16":"tag-ufc-news","17":"tag-videos"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286759\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/286760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}