The Ultimate Fighting Championship will break ground in a new market when Valentina Shevchenko defends her undisputed women’s flyweight title against Liz Carmouche in the UFC Fight Night 156 headliner on Saturday at Antel Arena in Montevideo, Uruguay. It serves as a rematch to a 2010 encounter that Carmouche won by technical knockout.
Cover Photo: Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC (Getty Images)
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Valentina Shevchenko grapples Jessica Eye. Photo: Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC (Getty Images)
Shevchenko has emerged as one of the sport’s dominant champions. The 31-year-old Tiger Muay Thai export last appeared at UFC 238 on June 8, when she cut down Jessica Eye with a second-round head kick and threw her hat in the “Knockout of the Year” ring. Shevchenko holds the rank of black belt in taekwondo and judo, along with an International Master of Sports designation in muay thai. She will enter the cage with the wind of a three-fight winning streak in her sails.
A Team Hurricane Awesome representative, Carmouche established herself as the No. 1 contender at 125 pounds with back-to-back victories over Jennifer Maia and Lucie Pudilova. She has compiled a 5-4 record since joining the UFC roster six-plus years ago, a run that includes a July 2013 technical knockout of current strawweight titleholder Jessica Andrade. Carmouche, 35, was awarded her Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt in the 10th Planet system in December.
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Liz Carmouche punches Miesha Tate. Photo: Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC (Getty Images)
Meanwhile, the hard-charging Vicente Luque takes on Mike Perry in the three-round welterweight co-main event at 170 pounds. UFC Fight Night 156—which streams live to ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT—also features a light heavyweight battle matching Volkan Oezdemir with Ilir Latifi, a middleweight tilt pitting Rodolfo Vieira against Oskar Piechota and a pair of featherweight scraps, as Humberto Bandenay meets Luiz Eduardo Garagorri and Enrique Barzola faces Bobby Moffett. ESPN+ will also carry the entire seven-fight undercard, starting at 5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT.
On the regional scene, Invicta Fighting Championships will make its return from a two-month hiatus with Invicta 36 on Friday at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas. Pam Sorenson takes on a resurgent Kaitlin Young in the headliner, with the fate of the promotion’s vacant featherweight championship hanging in the balance. Invicta 36 “Sorenson vs. Young” streams to UFC Fight Pass at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.
