Valentina Shevchenko wants to talk to referee Jason Herzog.
At UFC 285, the champion of flyweight lost her title when Alexa Grasso won through a submission in the 4th round. This is similar to when Chris Weidman failed after doing a spinning kick at Luke Rockhold and Chael Sonnen’s backfist against Anderson Silva both ended up failing too. Even though Shevchenko was defeated, she doesn’t regret it and instead she questioned Herzog.
Shevchenko said on The MMA Hour that it was hard for her to not throw the spinning back kick because she had done many knockouts with this particular kick. However, she felt tired during the fourth round of the fight and believed that some of the referees’ actions during that round can have led to her exhaustion. In other words, she chose to not use the risky kick due to the circumstances.
“I made a mistake and I admit that it was huge because I suffered the consequences but at the same time, it’s not something so bad that I can’t handle.”
Herzog is one of the best referees in mixed martial arts (MMA) and has officiated Shevchenko’s last two fights, however, Shevchenko isn’t too happy with Herzog’s performance.
When I think back to my fight, it’s clear that small things like the referee’s decisions have a big affect on me. Before this moment, I never thought that way but now I do. In my last fight with Taila Santos in Singapore, I tried to finish the fight with a head kick and she got hurt. Even though she was hurt, the referee stopped it and let her have time to rest. This didn’t seem right but maybe it was just the situation at hand.
In my fight, I was in the ground position with her guard on me and punching her hard. The referee then decided to stand us up and make us continue fighting with our fists instead. This could have an effect on a fighter since they have used so much energy to tackle their opponent down in order to do damage, but when the referee said that we didn’t need to stay on the ground, it was like it was working against one fighter because they had built up a situation and now they needed to start all over again.
Herzog made two decisions for different reasons. For the Santos fight, Herzog couldn’t do anything before Shevchenko hit a low blow and then the head kick. But for the Grasso fight, Herzog called for everyone to stand up after Shevchenko was in top position without doing anything else for two minutes.
Shevchenko disagreed with the judges’ decisions, and even suggested that those calls might have had an impact on who ended up winning the fight.
Valentina Shevchenko said that a bunch of small things might have led to what happened at the end of her fight. She doesn’t understand why it occurred when it did, since when she was watched the fight, it wasn’t her fault that Alexa could not get out of position as she had been holding her tightly. But then he decided to stand them up when she was starting to land big shots.
I’m not sure what to do because this plan of mine doesn’t seem to be working. Someone is telling me that I have to change my plan, and it looks different now. But Shevchenko isn’t too worried; she’s just focusing on getting her title back whenever she can.
“I’m able to handle anything life throws at me,” Shevchenko said. “I can take on any challenge life gives me. I’m a fighter, a warrior and that`s what drives me to keep going despite all the distractions around me to reach my goals.”
I’m hoping the UFC will arrange the fight for me in the near future, so that I have a goal to work towards. Then, once I have a date, I can start planning my journey back.
