The greatest ever? A look at the career of Valentina Shevchenko
Valentina Anatolievna Shevchenko was born on March 7th, 1988, in Frunze, Kirghizia, USSR (now known as Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan) to Ukrainian parents, Anatoly and Elena Shevchenko.
Valentina was introduced to combat sports by her mother, who was the President of Kyrgyzstan’s national Muay Thai association and a former multiple-time Muay Thai World Champion. Valentina began training Taekwondo at age 5 under the influence of her older sister, Antonina, and her mother. Valentina would continue training Taekwondo until she was 12 years old, when she decided to branch out into Muay Thai and freestyle Vale Tudo. In the year 2000, she began her amateur Muay Thai career where, as a 12-year-old, she knocked out a 22-year-old-opponent and earned her nickname “Bullet” from her coach Pavel Fedotov due to her speed inside the ring. After receiving an undergraduate degree in Film Directing from the National Academy of Arts of the Kyrgyz Republic Valentina moved to Peru with her sister and coach in 2007 to teach martial arts and subsequently earned citizenship a year later. Valentina is fluent in Russian, English and Spanish.
Valentina won 33 Muay Thai fights in a row until facing her first defeat against Aicha El Majydy of Morocco in 2011. Valentina would finish her Muay Thai career with a record of 55-1 (with notable wins over Lina Länsberg once and Joanna Jędrzejczyk three times) while also fighting in professional kickboxing and MMA. She continued with kickboxing and MMA until 2015, going 57-2 in kickboxing and 11-1 in MMA, when she received a short notice opportunity to fight in the UFC against Sarah Kaufman, stepping in for Germaine de Randamie. Valentina won the fight via split decision and was matched up with Amanda Nunes in her second fight. Valentina lost via unanimous decision after rallying to control Amanda in the final round, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough as Amanda had won the first two rounds on all three judges' score cards.
Valentina went on to dominate Holly Holm and submit Julianna Peña to earn another shot at Amanda Nunes, this time for the UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship and although the fight was close, Valentina lost via split decision and opted to drop down to the newly added Flyweight division. Valentina faced Priscila Cachoeira in her Flyweight debut where she dominated her and won the fight by rear-naked choke in the second round to earn a shot at the vacant Flyweight title against Joanna Jędrzejczyk, where, again, she dominated and was crowned undisputed champion.
Since then, Valentina has run through every opponent at Flyweight and either won by KO/TKO or one-sided decision. She currently sits at six consecutive title defenses and is looking to make seven when she faces Taila Santos at UFC 275 in Singapore.
Today, Valentina is recognized as a Master of Sport in Taekwondo, Boxing, Judo, Muay Thai and Kickboxing and has a combined professional combat sports record of 81-5. She is the current UFC Women’s Flyweight Champion and the only Champion in the history of her division. Valentina is easily one of the greatest fighters of any gender to ever compete in combat sports and will undoubtedly go down in history as such.
With a win against Santos at UFC 275, Valentina Shevchenko will break the record for the most Champion defenses by a Women's fighter in UFC history. Is she the greatest ever? She's certainly closing in on that title.
