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UFC Fighter Who Beat Ronda Rousey Is In Chicago For Big United Center Fight

 Ronda Rousey  and Holly Holm compete last year in their UFC women's bantamweight championship bout in Melbourne, Australia.
Ronda Rousey and Holly Holm compete last year in their UFC women's bantamweight championship bout in Melbourne, Australia.
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(Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

CHICAGO — Holly Holm, the mixed martial arts fighter who knocked out previouslyunbeaten titan Ronda Rousey to win the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s bantamweight belt, is in Chicago to fight Valentina Shevchenko of Kyrgyzstan Saturday night in the main event of the UFC’s Fight Night in Chicago at the United Center.

Holm, referred to as the “Preacher’s Daughter,” is a southpaw striker who became an international celebrity when she dominated Rousey at UFC 193 in Melbourne, Australia.

In that fight, Holm thwarted the ultra-aggressive Rousey with stiff jabs, frustrating her before landing a devastating head kick early in the second round that knocked Rousey out cold and sent her reeling face first onto the canvas.

Though Holm’s upset was considered to be one of the biggest in sports history, she would lose her championship at her very next outing when she was strangled unconscious by Meisha Tate in the fifth and final round of her first title defense.

Such is the world of fighting at the highest level. Holm still is rated one of the top female fighters in the world, both within her division and in the pound-for-pound rankings.

But Shevchenko, who has trained during fight week at Chicago’s Team Redzovic Loop school, is a monster of head kicking herself.

The 28-year-old has slugged her way to multiple Muay Thai and kickboxing world titles, leaving the sport with a combined record of 56 wins against two defeats. She is 12-2 since transitioning in 2003 to mixed martial arts and the fight against Holm at the United Center will mark the biggest stage of her career.

“She’s been working hard with her coaches. Her standup, her ground game, everything,” said Idriz Redzovic, one member of the Chicago academy’s family of black belt professors. “She’s a world champion herself. I think she has a really good chance against Holly Holm.”

Shevchenko was sent to the Redzovic's Chicago academy by her coach Pavel Fedotov, who has a relationship with a man called Draculino, a famous Brazilian black belt who runs a network of jiujitsu schools out of Texas, according to Redzovic. She wanted a gym to train at during fight week, and Redovic was the name they gave her. 

"She’s cool; she’s humble,” said Idriz. “She’s just ready to win. I don’t know, I think she wanted the feel — not working out at a hotel, but getting that gym feel — getting the walls to work on [which imitate the fighting cage]; you’re not surrounded by other people who aren’t fighting, you get a better piece of mind, feel like you’re at home — almost. She’s pretty dangerous, man, a lot of pop to her punches."

There is great video, provided by the slick fight-week video series called “Road to UFC,” of Shevchenko making her way around Chicago and training and taking photos with a class at Team Redzovic.

She also has posted a collection of pictures on her Facebook page of her time in Chicago, including some photos and videos of her with her sister, also a Muay Thai champion and training partner, at the lakefront near North Avenue beach, and at a friend’s house eating a traditional Kyrgyzstani meal. 

 

Even though she seems to be enjoying her time in Chicago, let there be no mistake: Shevchenko is in town to win a fight against a battle-hardened opponent. 

“The main thing is when you are in the cctagon, it’s every time the same. Main card, not main card, every fight it’s dangerous,” said Shevchenko to her interviewer. “When I’m there, I feel I am in the war. Only I think about the fight, what’s important to me is a victory in the fight. All the rest, it will come after."

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