Valentina Shevchenko became educated on Zhang Weili after watching UFC 248, and she came away with mixed reviews.

Shevchenko (19-3 MMA, 8-2 UFC), the UFC women’s flyweight champion, previously stated she hadn’t seen enough of Weili (21-1 MMA, 5-0 UFC) in four prior bouts to know what the UFC’s first Chinese titleholder was truly all about. She got five rounds of thrilling action in the “Fight of the Night” on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, but it ended in a tight result. The champion retained by split decision over Joanna Jedrzejczyk, who Shevchenko believes, along with at least one judge, should have won the fight.

“I don’t believe (Weili won),” Shevchenko told TMZ on Monday. “I think Joanna was more – her accuracy was more on point, and she had more clear strikes. The one thing was (the hematoma on) her head, right? But it was not kind of the result of many punches. It was just one punch in the third round when you can see her head blow up and start to swell. It’s obvious it went this way. It was not (from) getting that kind of pressure, getting that kind of power. It was just one hit.”

After claiming the title with a stunning knockout of Jessica Andrade at UFC on ESPN+ 15 in August, Weili started to bring up a potential move up to flyweight for a matchup with Shevchenko. “The Bullet” said she turns down no challenge but felt a change in weight class was premature without Weili having defended against top contenders at 115 pounds. Weili got past the most credentialed fighter in divisional history at UFC 248, but outside of entertainment value, those 25 minutes didn’t do much for Shevchenko.

“Weili, she’s a good fighter,” Shevchenko said. “I see now, competing in the top level competition, you can tell what she is in reality. She is good. Good fighter, but it’s not enough for the high, elite competition. Definitely, I wish her good luck at first, of course, but I cannot see her defending her title in the next fight.”

Shevchenko is currently booked to put her 125-pound belt on the line against Joanne Calderwood on June 6 at UFC 251 in Perth, Australia. She’ll enter her fourth title defense as a heavy favorite, as has become the norm, and should she hold onto the belt, the clockwork-like discussion about super fights will arise again.

In the event Weili proves Shevchenko wrong with continued success and puts herself in position for a showdown, Shevchenko said she will gladly take it. However, it doesn’t seem she has much faith things will get there.

“I don’t have any problem to fight no one,” Shevchenko said. “To me, it doesn’t matter if it’s going to be Chinese girl, Amanda Nunes – doesn’t matter who. I’m here to fight anyone. I would fight anyone. But as I said, I don’t see Weili passing the next title defense, and seeing the fight with Joanna, you see how difficult it was to fight with this kind of opponent with Joanna. How (much she) struggled, how troubled she (was) in this game. And you definitely see her fighting against me? I don’t think so.”