Valentina Shevchenko ended an 11-year UFC drought when she nearly broke ex-champion’s arm

Valentina Shevchenko left an opponent grimacing in pain nine years ago today.

The reigning UFC flyweight champion is widely seen as the closest threat to Amanda Nunes’ status as the consensus greatest women’s fighter of all time.

Shevchenko has broken numerous records during her time at 125 pounds, many of which occurred during her five-year stint on the flyweight throne between 2018 and 2023.

But before dominating that field, the Kyrgyz star was chasing gold in another division, and she achieved a rare (and brutal) feat in her career to earn a title shot there.

Valentina Shevchenko secured her first submission in 11 years with a brutal armbar against Julianna Pena

Before Shevchenko beat Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 231 to win the vacant flyweight title, she fell short of the bantamweight championship in her rematch with Nunes.

That clash with the ‘Lioness’ in September 2017 had been set up by a memorable bonus-winning performance from ‘Bullet’ earlier in the year.

On this day, January 28, nine years ago, Shevchenko defeated Julianna Pena. ‘The Venezuelan Vixen’ would go on to do what her rival could not by dethroning Nunes. But years before that in Denver, she was left frantically tapping out.

The then-future flyweight queen had gone 11 years without a submission win in her MMA career. But that drought came to an end when she locked up a brutal armbar on Pena in round two of their UFC Fight Night main event.

Pena was in clear pain as Shevchenko twisted her arm, and it appeared for a moment that the limb was set to snap. Thankfully, the Spokane native tapped out before the submission reached that devastating point.

Five of Shevchenko’s first seven wins in MMA came via submission. Since then, she has just two in 19 triumphs inside the cage.