As far as fighters from other weights go, Shevchenko already beat Joanna Champion, Holm and Pena. I can see giving her the nod in the second Nunes fight as well.
Then lets talk about within her weight class, not only has she now beat the #1, 2, 3 and 4 UFC ranked women at 125 lbs but she has a win over the current #8 as well.
Per rankingmma rankings, the global #1 contender for her is not in the UFC but its the Bellator 125 lb champ, Liz Carmouche but yep, Shevchenko already beat her as well. Carmouche left the promotion and is 4-0 now after having just won the Bellator title.
So globally she has beat the #1,2,3,4 and 5 ranked contenders in her division as well as the #1 and #3 ranked contenders at BW and a former SW champ who is now retired.
Esparza has beat the #1,2 and 3 ranked contenders at 115, should she try to go after Shevchenko next if Nunes defends the FW title instead of doing the Shevchenko fight at 135 right now?
At 34 years old I’m really interested in what Shevchenko does with the rest of her career and I hardly follow WMMA.
I’d love to see her got to BW next, take the title from Nunes and then go back to FLW and defend that title vs whoever the reigning SW champ is at the moment.
Shevchenko deserves the Nunes fight next so much more than Pena. She has done a lot more to earn it IMO.