At the beginning of the day on Friday, online sportsbook Bovada had installed women's flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko as a -1200 favorite heading into her UFC 247 fight against Katlyn Chookagian, who is a +700 underdog.
Looking at those odds combined with the fact Shevchenko's been a dominant force inside the Octagon makes one wonder how Chookagian can go into UFC 247 and beat someone who people view as virtually unstoppable in the 125-pound division. Chookagian is respectful of what Shevchenko has done in her career but isn't the monster she's been perceived to be.
"It doesn’t really bother me," Chookagian told DAZN News. "I get it’s the UFC’s job to promote their champions, and that’s how they promote her (irritated a bit). She doesn’t have too many finishes. Most of her fights have gone to decisions. She’s been beaten before. It’s not like when Ronda (Rousey) was in her prime and she was finishing every single girl really quick. That’s a little bit more intense and you saw how that went with her. Valentina is definitely very good but she has a lot of decisions. I don’t see that she’s like this crazy, unbeatable fighter. I think she’s very good. I don’t really see her as any different than any other fighter that I faced."
Chookagian and Shevchenko nearly met one year ago when they competed on UFC 231 in December 2018. Chookagian faced Jessica Eye in a No. 1 contender's fight, and Shevchenko took on Joanna Jedrzejczyk for the vacant 125-pound belt. Shevchenko handled her business in blowing out the former women's strawweight champion to capture her first UFC title. Chookagian came up short, losing a close split-decision to Eye in a fight most pundits felt should have gone the other way.
Many would have continued to be bitter about coming up short in a fight that had significant stakes since Eye fought Shevchenko at UFC 238. Initially, the 31-year-old was upset, but she came around quickly and moved forward because she felt getting a chance to compete for the championship was still easily within reach.
"The loss didn’t deter me," Chookagian said. "I knew that it was a missed opportunity for the title shot. But I knew that in my mind I’d have just to go win a couple more fights. I knew where I was in the division that it wouldn’t be that long and would be right back in position. Obviously, losing to Jessica was disappointing because seeing it was a close fight and then seeing her fight for the title, that sucked. I also knew in that fight I didn’t fight to the best of my abilities and I had a bad night."
After back-to-back wins over contenders Joanne Calderwood and Jennifer Maia, Chookagian now gets the opportunity she's been looking to get since she made her professional debut in June 2014.
"This is definitely what I’ve wanted the whole time since I started training mixed martial arts to being a world champion," Chookagian said. "I didn’t just want to be in the UFC. I wanted to be a UFC champion. This is definitely a huge goal of mine. It’s super exciting. It doesn’t make me nervous, but this is what I’ve dreamed about forever, and that just makes me more excited. If I see the opportunity to take the finish, I’m going to go for it 100 percent."