Valentina Shevchenko believes she is living in the best possible time to become a martial artist.
When the UFC first arrived on the scene in 1993, athletes were often defined by their specific skills. For some it was Sumo. For others it was boxing, combat sambo or jiu-jitsu. In fact, even legendary fighter David ‘Tank’ Abbott described his style as pit fighting while he was in battle Octagon.
But nowadays MMA encompasses all of these styles to some extent, and Shevchenko thinks that’s pretty damn cool.
“You know, we are now living in a dream of some great people, great athletes, who dreamed about a universal martial artist – who would contain all the techniques, and the fighter would be so universal and have no problem using any technique,” Shevchenko said Wednesday at UFC 322. media day in New York.
“Now every fighter who fights in MMA is a universal fighter, and we can choose which tactic or technique we want to use. We have no problem fighting with kicks, we have no problem fighting with hands. MMA fighter must be the perfect fighter: kicking, punching, grappling, grappling, everything. This is everyone’s best dream…
“Modern fighters, they don’t have to start with some martial arts and then join another; they have already started training MMA. It is a short, short way to become a superstar in exactly MMA as a style, and I am very happy that I live at the right time and in the right place, and that I can show my skills that I have developed during the 32 years of practicing martial arts. This is what I call the art and beauty of fighting.”
When it comes to women in mixed martial arts, it’s hard to imagine anyone other than Shevchenko topping the all-time list.
Now a two-time world flyweight champion, ‘Bullet’, will put her gold up for grabs against another former two-time titleholder, Zhang Weili, at UFC 322 – a bout that Daniel Cormier is already touting as the “greatest female fight of all time.”
Zhang vacated her strawweight belt earlier this year, specifically to move up from 115 and challenge Shevchenko for her 125-pound crown.
Overall, ‘Magnum’ is 10-2 under the UFC banner, with her only losses coming against ‘Thug’ Rose Namajunas. Since then, she has won back-to-back fights, including back-to-back second-round finishes against Joanna Jędrzejczyk and Carla Esparza.
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