Do you really believe that Valentina isn't going to learn from this?

[NoSmilez]

Age wise she can't train as much anymore. She trains once a day for 1.5 hours then walks a lot. I still believe she still have enough to beat Santos. She defended that belt so many times. There is always going to be a challenger and there is so much tape on her. I think she will make it to 8 or 9 title defenses. She is really good.

 

[WingzOfRedemption]

She was acting like she just KO'd her within 1 second after the final bell and then proceeded to act like it was an easy fight with DC lol

 

[Only Here for Attachments]

She was acting like she just KO'd her within 1 second after the final bell and then proceeded to act like it was an easy fight with DC lol

Same thing in the post-fight presser.

 

[You Will Vote For Dreyga]

I think she'll defend 2-3 more times and retire on top

Have you listened to her interviews?? Valentina has stated many times that she will never retire. That martial arts is her life. She is going to fight as long as she possibly can

 

[WingzOfRedemption]

Same thing in the post-fight presser.

Was cringe. Jenna Tailia literally had let her go at the end of almost every round and the bullet thinks she won due to headclash. gwoat

 

[FIghtxIQ]

It was the height/reach and strength in the clinch and grappling exchanges that gave her problems. Plus she was worried about her striking from the start. She planted her feet and was only looking to counter and keep distance. Santos just had physical advantages that gave Valentina problems. It's not about Valentina declining, it's just that body type and style of fighting is a dangerous fight for Valentina. Some fighters don't do well with a size/height/reach/strength disadvantage and that's the real reason Valentina struggled. Santos is skilled so it's not the same as someone having more size/reach/height/strength but less skilled. They were equally skilled and Santos had physical advantages.

Not a lot of fighters really know how to fight against a reach/height disadvantage in striking. Also Santos was stronger grappler so she couldn't fall back on the grappling to try and win the fight. Valentia kept initiating the clinch because she didn't want to strike vs Santos with Santos having a height/reach advantage over her. It made Valentina real uncomfortable.

 

[Iroh]

She doesn't make the same mistakes twice.
When she lost against Amanda the first time she knew it was her grappling that failed her...she grew by leaps and bounds immediately after that.

She had a tough fight yesterday, but don't think in your hateful little hearts that she isn't going to learn, grow and get better from this experience.

~fin

 

[skylolow]

Well to be fair she did have foot injury coming into the fight which I'm sure prohibited her usual movement to some degree that we usually see from her. She'll be just fine.

P.S.: I don't see her fighting to much longer. A few more title defenses and she is probably set up pretty well for the rest of her life.

 

[The Fat Mexican]

Doesn't really matter. People's champ is santos. She had to headbutt her opponent twice. Kick her in the private parts. Just so she could compete with santos in round 4 and 5. I do not have a fav fighter in wmma cause I can't stand to watch it. But when I have to watch it on a ppv. Having a judge screw over a fighter after getting head butted like that is a little insane. First time shev is in trouble since the Nunez fight and headbutt. Very suspicious.

That's some some pretty intense mental gymnastic you just did there buddy

 

[west42]

It may be more accurate to be called "lay and sub attempt" instead of lay and pray not much difference but there's a slight one. I don't think any fighter would have preferred to been in tails's position during the sub attempts getting punched in the face versus being in shevchenkos position

Lol ok sir.
She did nothing to Val...like at all.
She got her ass kicked while she was in top position.

Can anyone say lay and pray for the most part?

 

[Post 2 Decision]

She probably will, and will probably actually “win” a rematch with Taila. But, Taila won that fight. It’s just a shame that when fighting certain champions. The challenger must win 4 rounds, in the hopes of being given 3 of them. Because winning only 3 rounds isn’t enough against the UFC’s little darlings.

Valentina 2/4/5 bro

 

[WildShrimper]

She kept grappling even when Santos quite frankly was winning most of the grappling exchanges. It's almost like she thought Santos was getting lucky. I think Valentina wins a rematch if she has good TDD and strikes more.

 

[Gambit MMA]

She kept grappling even when Santos quite frankly was winning most of the grappling exchanges. It's almost like she thought Santos was getting lucky. I think Valentina wins a rematch if she has good TDD and strikes more.

said it last night, but i think it was because she's been so used to easily outmatching and overpowering her opponents, she kept forcing those clinch and grappling exchanges almost like she wanted to prove to her ego and herself that she was better. then it set in when the championship rounds start "holy shit i might lose this fight"

a lot of her big name wins are girls that came up from 115, and then she's had a handful of 125 girls who are only really worthy of being called title challengers because they fight at womens 125. this was the first fight in a while she was matched physically and couldn't simply clinch and toss her opponent to the ground whenever she wanted.

 

[Alpha-Q-Up]

Doesn't matter what she learns...she's 34. She's gonna be worse next year, and the year after that.

Meanwhile Santos is only approaching her prime.

Val's been smashing cans and 115ers at 125 ever since the division was created....but now the first legit 125er with decent skills finally showed up and showed how beatable Valentina actually is.

 

[StonedLemur]

Lol i love that gif sir.

 

[Doughie99]

I really don't understand why she doesn't blitz her opponents more often, she is faster and better striker that most, I don't think she scared but I don't get it and this is very often.

She should have kept kicking Santos head but she didn't a single time after the head clash.

I think MAYBE it was her foot injury as she said (in the post-fight presser) that she has a foot injury before the fight. How bad it was, we don't know. She said it was the reason why she didn't do the dance post-fight this time.
But ...yes...I was watching the fight wondering why she didn't throw a left head-kick especially as Santos was compromised heavily on her vision on that side --- a left head-kick would have been the kick to throw, like the one that flatlined Jessica Eye.

 

[StonedLemur]

Have you listened to her interviews?? Valentina has stated many times that she will never retire. That martial arts is her life. She is going to fight as long as she possibly can

Excellent.
Well she'll definitely learn from this.

 

[xhaydenx]

Everyone seems to think that she's just going to come into a rematch and yet again go for stupid power throws against a girl who is stronger than her and a really good grappler.

If she does do that nonsense again then she deserves to lose.

Valentina is usually pretty smart. I was amazed that after it happened in the first round she kept going back to it later in the fight. Wasn't until like the 4th and 5th that she seemed to realize that stuff was a bad idea and she could just win easily by outstriking a lesser striker who was pretty tired by the point.

 

[You Will Vote For Dreyga]

Everyone seems to think that she's just going to come into a rematch and yet again go for stupid power throws against a girl who is stronger than her and a really good grappler.

If she does do that nonsense again then she deserves to lose.

Valentina is usually pretty smart. I was amazed that after it happened in the first round she kept going back to it later in the fight. Wasn't until like the 4th and 5th that she seemed to realize that stuff was a bad idea and she could just win easily by outstriking a lesser striker who was pretty tired by the point.

Talia forced many of those clinch exchanges and took Val down herself several times. The only reason she didn’t go back to well in 4 and 5 was because she blind in one eye. Without the head clash Santos would have won definitively

 

[StonedLemur]

She seemed incapable of making in fight adjustments to her game plan, not sure how a 20 year vet fixes that.

Easy, just like she got better after fighting Amanda the first time sir.