At UFC 322, the MMA world witnessed Valentina Shevchenko vs Zhang Weili in what many deemed the greatest female MMA fight of all time. It featured two of the most dominant women champions the promotion has ever seen, so fans expected a competitive back-and-forth scrap. However, the Bullet ended up dominating her opponent for 25 minutes in nonstop, one-sided action.

From the opening bell, the reigning flyweight’s size discrepancy against the former strawweight champion became clear. That actually turned into her biggest advantage, as ‘Magnum’ couldn’t deal with the wrestling exchanges on the mat. In the end, Valentina Shevchenko earned a 50–45 win on all three scorecards, showing complete control.

Although Weili received praise for taking a shot at glory, her inability to perform up to expectations disappointed some fans, and UFC CEO Dana White wasn’t particularly happy either.  In the UFC 322 post-fight presser, White said, “I thought Weili is a little pitbull. I thought she would be much stronger and do better in that fight than she did. One of her buddies texted me after that fight, said, ‘This is why we have weight classes.’” 

Well, Zhang Weili was definitely hyped up ahead of UFC 322 as she made the biggest leap of her career. And the Chinese legend might have done a pretty good job if someone else had faced her instead of Shevchenko. However, now that her move to 125 lbs didn’t go the way she imagined, her next step seems likely to be returning to her old division and facing Mackenzie Dern for the strawweight gold.

As for the dominant 125 lbs women’s champion, she’s also cooking up plenty of plans after her triumphant defense, but the Bullet moving up to the bantamweight division might not happen, as the UFC CEO didn’t look very keen on that idea.

Dana White is not much interested in Valentina Shevchenko moving up to 135 lbs after beating Zhang Weili

After Shevchenko finished proving herself once again as one of the greatest female fighters ever, she didn’t waste any time sharing her plans. The still reigning women’s flyweight champion mentioned several divisional contenders, such as Natalia Silva, who defeated ‘Bullet’s toughest test Alexa Grasso, at UFC 315, and Erin Blanchfield, who earned a big win over Tracy Cortez on the same night. But she looked a bit more animated when talking about a possible fight against Kayla Harrison at 135 lbs.

At the UFC 322 Octagon interview, Bullet said, “I have a couple of options in the flyweight division. For example, in my previous title defense, Natalia Silva was very successful in her fight. At this event, Erin Blanchfield did an amazing job. And I also heard in one ear that Kayla Harrison is calling me out. So I have a lot of options to think about.”

Well, Harrison did call her out on Jorge Masvidal’s podcast for a possible showdown at the UFC White House event. However, Dana White doesn’t seem very keen on Shevchenko moving up to another division to challenge a woman much bigger than her.

At the post-fight presser, The Mac Life’s Oscar Willis asked the UFC CEO, “Would you be interested in Valentina moving back to 135 to try to test herself? Would you be okay with that?” To which White replied, “I don’t know, I don’t think about that kind of s—t.”

Well, Dana White didn’t outright dismiss the idea, but his reaction to Willis’ question didn’t show any positive sign either—probably because of how tonight’s fight turned out with the size discrepancy. Still, it’ll be interesting to see what the UFC decides if Shevchenko makes another successful defense.

That said, what do you think is next for Valentina Shevchenko and Zhang Weili after UFC 322? Let us know in the comments section below.