NEW YORK – Valentina Shevchenko set out to have the hardest fight of her career Saturday. What happened looked more like a walk-through.

Shevchenko (26-4-1 MMA, 15-3-1 UFC) dominated Zhang Weili (26-4 MMA, 10-3 UFC) from bell to bell, pillar to post, to defend the women's flyweight title in the UFC 322 co-main event at Madison Square Garden.

Weili vacated the women's strawweight title to move up for a chance at a second belt, but offered virtually no threat to Shevchenko, who defended the title for the second time in her second reign as champion. Shevchenko said her dominance was perhaps magnified because she went over the top in her preparation for Zhang.

"I was prepared for a war. I even took all my anti-inflammatory pills with me because I didn't know how I was going to walk out of the octagon," Shevchenko told MMA Junkie and other reporters at her post-fight news conference. "But the training I did for this fight was so hard, it helped me to have a less hard fight. But it wasn't something I felt was going to be easy.

"During the fight, from the very beginning to the very end, I couldn't let myself be very sure: 'Oh, it's going great and I'll relax now.' I was fighting with the highest level of opponent, Weili – and she's the highest level of opponent, very dangerous in every moment. Knowing she has this knockout power, one punch, I saw I had several body kicks and I thought, 'One more and it's going to be it.' But then you have to remember if you approach too soon, there's a punch that's going to hit you very hard and you might be finished on the ground."

But that was never really an issue for Shevchenko, who landed five takedowns and had more than 13 minutes of control time in the fight, which was her fourth straight 25-minute fight. Overall, she has 10 five-round decision results in the UFC.

Shevchenko, 37, has been fighting MMA for more than 20 years, and her muay Thai and kickboxing background goes back just as far. After years dominating at 125 pounds, she was upset by Alexa Grasso in 2023, then fought to a draw with her in a rematch. But a year after that, she outworked her to get the belt back in their trilogy fight.

Now with wins over Manon Fiorot and Weili in her second title reign, she wants to take some time to regroup. She sees Natalia Silva and fellow UFC 322 winner Erin Blanchfield as possible title challengers at flyweight. But she also sees Kayla Harrison up at bantamweight with her title – and knows Harrison is waiting for former two-division champ Amanda Nunes to commit to a return for a title defense.

If Nunes drags her feet, Shevchenko already has been tempted by Harrison to move up for a shot at a second belt. That's something Shevchenko tried herself against Nunes, but fell short. Or, a fight with Nunes could be in the offing, even though Shevchenko has two losses to her.

"I think (Harrison is) one of the possibilities, and I'll consider this," Shevchenko said. "For now, I want to take care of the injuries that I have … but after a week or so, I'll have a conversation with my team, with my coach, and decide what is next.

"I feel there are good challengers at flyweight, as well: Erin, Natalia, and at bantamweight, now we have Amanda or Kayla. I think probably fans would like to see Amanda trilogy, because it's unfinished business. But at the same time, it's unclear: Is she returning, or not returning? Is she fighting or not fighting? It's unknown in what shape she's going to return: Half Amanda? Maybe full Amanda? Who knows. But Kayla is another possibility, and it's going to be a super challenge."

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Valentina Shevchenko weighs options at 125, 135 after UFC 322