Coach Conversation | VeChain UFC 322: Shevchenko vs Zhang

Tyson Chartier Breaks Down The Flyweight Title Fight Between Valentina Shevchenko And Zhang Weili

By E. Spencer Kyte, on X @spencerkyte • Nov. 10, 2025

Championship fights are layered battles, with the competitors stepping into the Octagon operating at the highest level in their respective weight classes. Breaking down how these pivotal contests could possibly play out is a challenging venture, which is why UFC staff writer E. Spencer Kyte has taken to enlisting the help of some of the sharpest minds in the sport to help dissect these critical contests.

Ahead of the captivating flyweight title fight at VeChain UFC 322 between two-time champ Valentina Shevchenko and two-time strawweight titleholder Zhang Weili, Kyte reached out to New England Cartel head man Tyson Chartier to discuss the matchup and what fans might be able to expect when these two legends share the Octagon on Saturday.

Best Trait of Each Fighter

Kyte: Okay, dude —let’s do this. What’s the best trait of Valentina Shevchenko?

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Chartier: She is so well-rounded, but on top of that, I don’t know that there is a better counter-striker in the sport. She’s so good, just waiting: she stands there with a good high guard, taps her front foot, and if you come in, you’re getting hurt.

She’s well-rounded on top of that, but the fact that she’s such a good counter-striker stands out even more. She lulls people into attacking and then rips them apart, and it always impresses me.

Kyte: And what about the challenger?

Chartier: For Weili, it’s her aggression, her pressure, and her physicality that have always stood out. She always seems so much stronger; she’s so much more physically dominant than her opponents.

VeChain UFC 322 Countdown | Valentina Shevchenko vs Zhang Weili

Kyte: Right —they’re the same size, made the same weight, but Weili is still just bigger, stronger, more physical.

When it comes to Shevchenko with the counter-striking, how do you prepare for something like that? You need to advance and attack in order to have success, but she’s just waiting there, as you said, tapping that front foot, ready to pick you off.

So how do you attack her and work to neutralize that approach?

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Chartier: I think you have to use a “first and third” strategy, knowing that your first is a throwaway.

You’re trying to pull out her counters, where you’re not sacrificing your defense in order to do it. So you’re throwing up decoys to get her to counter and then looking to counter her. I think the feints are key —you have to keep moving, keep throwing, and get her to start guessing.

When a counter-striker doesn’t know when you’re committing, they start guessing when to go. If you go big every time, they’re going to get your timing down and launch you, so I think it has to be that “first and third” where that first is stuff just to pull the counters out.

Kyte: When it comes to Weili and her physicality, the interesting thing when it comes to this fight is, does it carry over? My guess is we’ll get into it more in a little bit, but that’s the question, right?

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It’s been there throughout at 115 pounds, and she’s always looked like the bigger, stronger person, but if she doesn’t have that physicality here, what can she lean on to have success?

Chartier: That’s where she has to lean on her aggression and mix it up. Some of the people that Shevchenko has had a little trouble with have been when people do pressure her, really get in on her, and make her react to what they’re doing.

Kyte: Yeah, Jennifer Maia and Taila Santos both had some success doing that.

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Chartier: The fact that Weili can mix it up gives her an advantage over some of the people that have fought Shevchenko too because if you’re only doing one thing —like it was clear that Grasso was trying to grapple (in their third fight), but Weili could look to take you down one round and lump you up on the feet the next.

It’s a bit of a different look than some of the people Shevchenko has fought in the past.

Shevchenko vs Zhang Preview | Vechain UFC 322

Path to Victory

Kyte: Okay, what’s the path to victory for each of them?

Chartier: For Weili, she has to mix it up.

She can’t just say, ‘I’m gonna strike in this fight’ or ‘I’m just going to wrestle.’ She has to be willing to do both, while at the same time taking whatever is available to her. You can’t just say, ‘I need a takedown, so I have to go for a takedown here.’ You can’t fight Shevchenko that way; it doesn’t work. If she knows what you’re trying to do, she’s a master at defending it.

So if you just take whatever small mistakes she might make or graces she might give you and take advantage of it —if a cheap kick comes and you can get a takedown off of it, take it! Don’t say, ‘I’m not gonna take you down because the strategy is to keep it on the feet.’

Take advantage to win every exchange, win every round. Win moments; don’t be too stuck on the game plan.

Kyte: Take what you’re given and see what comes of it.

Chartier: For Shevchenko, it’s kind of the same thing.

If she’s coming hot at you, be okay with being boring still, which is one thing I think is admirable about Shevchenko: she has no problem…

Kyte: She does not give a s*** when it comes to “You need to be more exciting!” The third fight with Grasso, she was content to just stand there and hit her with the same stuff over and over and over because it was working, and Grasso didn’t have any answers.

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She didn’t over-extend, didn’t go chasing anything; she just connected consistently, put away rounds, and got her belt back.

Chartier: I admire that. From a fan standpoint, it might not be the most exciting style, but as someone that has coached a lot of fighters and who has been in there, the fact that she can do that and has been so good —she can go against the best fighters in the world and just win moments, win rounds, win fights, and never get hurt.

Valentina Shevchenko of Kyrgyzstan punches 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)

Kyte: She just knows how to win and does exactly what she needs to do to win.

Chartier: And I won’t chalk that up to experience either, because I think too many people are credited with being smart. This is just something that she has.

Kyte: I think experience plays a part in it —you can only understand about winning moments in fights and how important those moments are by being in fights, but understanding that you can do the things you do without worrying about all the stuff too many people get sucked into is different.

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She’s not drawn to the stuff that gets too many people. You’re never going to hear her say, “I could do this, but I know that’s not what the fans want.” She’s out there to win fights and put jewels on her belt.

Chartier: I admire it, and it’s such an intangible quality to have. She has very good triggers to win moments.

X Factor

Kyte: Okay, so what’s the X-factor here?

Chartier: Does Weili’s size and physicality advantage that she’s had at 115 pounds carry over at all at 125 pounds?

I’m interested to find out because Shevchenko has been in there with (Amanda) Nunes, she’s been in there with bigger physical women that struggled to make ’35, and she’s fighting at ’25 now, so she’s been in there with much bigger women. A 115-pounder coming up to ’25, is there going to be a crazy disadvantage now?

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Kyte: Right. In theory, she should have an edge because she’s natural to the weight class and has been in there with bigger, stronger opposition in the past and done well. She was in there twice with Nunes, and Liz Carmouche, who is a bulldog, Jennifer Maia, Taila Santos, and Manon Fiorot.

I agree —it’ll be interesting.

For me, I’m always, always curious in situations like this where fighters are a little older and maybe towards the end, at what point do we start to see a little slippage? At what point does it start to creep in there?

Shevchenko is 37, she’ll be 38 in March, and Zhang is 36 —nothing crazy, but they’ve both been doing this for a while, and at some point, does it just show up a little? When you’re this good, this well-rounded, and you’re fighting someone else who is at that elite level, a couple of percentage points of slippage can change the outcome of a fight.

Chartier: You see it with lots of people —there is that one fight where they start to slip a little, and then it just goes from there.

Kyte: I think these are two people who can avoid it for longer than most because they’re that talented and so mentally strong in their belief and drive, but at some point, stuff just starts to erode a little naturally.

We talked about Shevchenko being a counter-striker —at some point, the speed and quickness of those counters recedes just a little, and when you’re facing someone as good as Weili, it doesn’t need to be much.

Valentina Shevchenko of Kyrgyzstan knees 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)

Alexa Grasso submitting her is a forever reminder of what can happen when you make a mistake. She took full advantage of one little mistake and won the title, and Zhang Weili is capable of doing that —and the inverse is true too: if Weili is a little less physical, a little less dangerous because competing at ’25 is harder, Shevchenko can bust her up.

One Coaching Curiosity

Kyte: So we already talked about the physicality point that I know is one of your curiosity points —does it translate up a division for Weili? — But is there anything else that you’re really paying attention to on Saturday night?

Chartier: I want to see how Weili’s chin holds up at ’25 because she’s been dropped by Rose (Namajunas) and she’s been dropped by Yan (Xiaonan), and that’s at ’15. How do you deal with going up 10 pounds and being in there with a woman who has been in there with even bigger women at ’35?

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Maybe she was cutting a lot of weight, so you can go in there thinking, “It’ll be better because she’s not cutting as much weight this time,” but generally, my thinking is she wasn’t wearing damage super-well at ’15 against the upper tier, so how is that going to go against the best striker at ’25?

Kyte: My mindset is what you said —“Well, she’s going up, so it should be better because she’s not cutting that weight,” compared to like, if you go down and you’re depleting yourself more — but you’re right, she took some shots and got put down by some people that aren’t necessarily big hitters.

Valentina isn’t either, but she’ll kick you in the head and walk you off.

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Chartier: She’s definitely gonna land shots, so I’m interested to see how she holds up.

Kyte: How much does weight cutting impact that?

Chartier: I don’t think there is any real way of knowing. What I can say is that the times I was hurt in my career were after bad weight cuts.

It’s an opinion-based thing, and it can go both ways: you cut too much weight, so you’re gonna have a vulnerable chin, but also, if you have a better chin, but you’re up a weight class, how do you wear those shots? I don’t know, but I’d be interested to see more studies on that kind of stuff.

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Kyte: I’m really interested to see how she looks because she’s someone that I have always thought could go up and fit into the division well, from a physical standpoint.

Shevchenko’s only an inch taller; the reach difference is three inches, which isn’t negligible, but isn’t crazy either. Weili throws at a better clip, takedown accuracy isn’t as good, but I’ve always been curious to see what she looks like in this division.

This is obviously the fight to make, but it also might not be the one to judge it off of because Shevchenko is so good. Regardless, I’m super-interested to see how she looks, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s competitive here.

It’s gonna be a really good fight… I think.

Thanks for doing this.

VeChain UFC 322: Della Maddalena vs Makhachev took place live from Madison Square Garden Arena in New York, New York on November 15, 2025. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!