​When Valentina Shevchenko Produced 'One Of The Most Spectacular Head-Kick KOs'

Valentina Shevchenko convincingly defeated Jessica Eye with a devastating head-kick KO at UFC 238 to retain her women's featherweight championship.

The 31-year-old UFC fighter, whose last loss came against Amanda Nunes in 2017, captured the vacated title back in December and put on a strong showing in her first defence in June.

During the event at the United Center in Chicago, Shevchenko took down her 33-year-old American opponent with a brutal head kick only 26 seconds into the second round.

Eye immediately slumped to the octagon's canvas as the referee ended the fight and Shevchenko started to celebrate her victory.

Check it out below.

The Kyrgyzstan native was worried about Eye's wellbeing after she was knocked out cold, even applauding her opponent once she climbed back to her feet.

"This is what we have to have in this kind of sport, to be healthy," Shevchenko said.

"Thank you, Jessica, for a courageous performance."

Shevchenko admitted that once she realised the damage she had caused in the first round of the fight, she had to take advantage of it going into the second.

"In this first round, I felt that a kick to the body went through and she was a little bit broke," she explained.

"That's how I knew it would work and as the second round continued, I knew I could land it.

"I was ready for a hard, brutal fight. That's why I was prepared to do my best and show my skills.

"Like I said before, 125 is my natural weight class and I am happy to be here and that is where I want to be."

The women's featherweight champ has fought Nunes on two occasions -- the first coming in 2016 -- and has lost twice.

Shevchenko, who has thought about moving back to bantamweight to complete her trilogy of fights against the Brazilian, said that she was happy with how far the flyweight division had come.

"All [in the top ten] is very strong, and I am happy to fight all of them because 125 is the future of MMA in this sport," she admitted at the time.

"Believe me."

Will we see Shevchenko-Nunes III?

Let us know in the comments.

Featured Image Credit: BT Sport/PA

Topics: UFC News, MMA News, UFC, MMA

Adnan Riaz

Adnan Riaz is a journalist for SPORTbible. He studied for a B.A. in History at the University of York and followed it up with an M.A. in Multimedia Journalism at MMU. Before he started writing about sports, he spent over four years in the gaming press. He has worked for several publications, including Hardcore Gamer, LADbible and the Manchester Evening News. Follow him on Twitter to find out what he is working on next. Got a story tip for Adnan? Email him: [email protected]

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