MONTREAL, QUEBEC – MAY 10: Valentina Shevchenko of Kyrgyzstan reacts after her victory against Manon Fiorot of France in the UFC flyweight championship bout during the UFC 315 event at Bell Centre on May 10, 2025 in Montreal, Quebec. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)
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UFC women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko looks to make the second defense of her second title reign when she faces former UFC strawweight champion Zhang Weili in the co-main event of the UFC 322 pay-per-view fight card. UFC 322 is headlined by another contest between a current champ and a former titleholder who is moving up in weight. In that matchup, recently crowned UFC welterweight champ Jack Della Maddalena looks to stave off the charge of ex-UFC lightweight kingpin Islam Makhachev. We preview the Shevchenko vs. Zhang contest and look at the opening betting odds and line movement for the upcoming UFC 322 title fight.
UFC 322 Co-Main Event: Valentina Shevchenko Vs. Zhang Weili Opening Betting Odds And Line Movement
When BetOnline announced the opening odds for Shevchenko Vs. Zhang, the former strawweight champ was the -140 betting favorite over Shevchenko, who opened as the +120 underdog. The betting line has shifted for the UFC 322 co-main event. The fight is now a pick ’em, with Shevchenko listed at -105, while Zhang comes in at -115.
UFC 322 Co-Main Event: Valentina Shevchenko
MONTREAL, QUEBEC – MAY 10: Valentina Shevchenko of Kyrgyzstan celebrates after defeating Manon Fiorot of France to retain the women’s flyweight title during UFC 315 at Bell Centre on May 10, 2025 in Montreal, Quebec. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
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Valentina Shevchenko (25-4-1) has been with the UFC since December 2015, when the promotion signed her as a short-notice replacement for Germaine de Randamie against Sarah Kaufman on a UFC on FOX card. Shevchenko won that bantamweight fight by split decision.
Shevchenko stayed at 135 for her next four fights, going 2-2. Her wins came against former UFC champ Holly Holm and future titleholder Julianna Pena. Her losses, both by decision, came against Amanda Nunes, including a September 2017 split decision setback against then-champ Nunes.
Following her loss to Nunes, Shevchenko dropped to 125 pounds and went on one of the most impressive runs in the history of the UFC women’s divisions.
She put an absolute beating on Priscila Cachoeira in her UFC 125-pound debut. In her next fight, Shevchenko faced ex-women’s strawweight champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk for the vacant flyweight title. Shevchenko won that scrap via decision.
She then defended her title seven times before falling to Grasso at UFC 285. The two then fought to a split draw in a September 2023 scrap. The trilogy fight between the two saw Shevchenko walk away from UFC 306 with the title back in her hands.
In her most recent outing, which served as the co-main event of UFC 315 in May of this year, Shevchenko successfully defended her title for the first time in her second reign with a unanimous decision win over Manon Fiorot.
Shevchenko holds the following records in the UFC women’s flyweight division:
Most WIns: 11
Most KO/TKO wins: 4
Longest winning streak: 9
Most title fight wins: 10
Most fight time: 4:07:47
Most control time: 1:27:25
Most top position time: 1:15:53
Fewest strikes absorbed per minute: 1.86
Total strikes landed: 1,963
Takedowns landed: 49
UFC 322 Co-Main Event: Zhang Weili
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – FEBRUARY 09: Zhang Weili of China reacts after a victory against Tatiana Suarez in the UFC strawweight championship fight during the UFC 312 event at Qudos Bank Arena on February 09, 2025 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)
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Zhang Weili (26-3) was in her second stint with the UFC’s 115-pound title when she decided to move up to 125 pounds and pursue the UFC flyweight championship.
The 36-year-old first captured the 115-pound belt in August 2019 in her fourth fight with the UFC. Zhang defeated Jessica Andrade via TKO at the 0:42 mark of the first round of their UFC Fight Night bout in China to capture the belt. Zhang’s first defense of her crown came in March 2020, when she scored a split decision over former champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk.
Zhang’s title reign ended in April 2021 when Rose Namajunas scored a highlight-reel head kick knockout win over the champ 78 seconds into their UFC 261 scrap. Namajunas held onto the belt in the rematch in November 2021, defeating Zhang via split decision.
Zhang bounced back from those back-to-back defeats in June 2022 when she once again beat Jedrzejczyk, this time scoring a knockout victory.
In November 2022, Zhang found herself once again fighting for the belt. She reclaimed UFC gold with a submission win over Carla Esparza.
Zhang vacates the title having defended the crown three times in her second championship run. She defeated Amanda Lemos via decision in August 2023, following that by beating Yan Xiaonan via decision at UFC 300. In her most recent outing, Zhang earned a decision over Tatiana Suarez in the co-main event of UFC 312 in February of 2025.
We will have more on UFC 322 as fight night approaches.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/trentreinsmith/2025/09/03/ufc-322-co-main-event-opening-betting-odds-shevchenko-vs-weili/
