Valentina Shevchenko is inarguably one of the greatest female fighters within the historical past of combined martial arts.
Although she might now not sit atop the ladies’s flyweight division, ‘Bullet’ is by far and away, the best fighter the 125-pound weight class has ever seen. Defending her belt a record-setting seven occasions, Shevchenko not too long ago posed with all seven of her titles on social media — every representing one in every of her iconic defenses.
The visible was paying homage to Demetrious Johnson’s iconic photo with his own collection of UFC gold.
“7 title protection, 7 superb occasions alongside the most effective #UFC MMA fighters of the world,” Shevchenko wrote on Instagram. “Thanks @ufc, Now all my belts with me!!!”
Making her promotional debut in 2015, Valentina Shevchenko labored her manner up the bantamweight ladder earlier than making the soar to flyweight the place she received 9 straight fights, together with a title-winning efficiency in opposition to 2024 UFC Hall of Famer Joanna Jędrzejczyk.
She would go on to defend the title in opposition to the likes of Jessica Eye, Liz Carmouche, Katlyn Chookagian, Jennifer Maia, Jessica Andrade, Lauren Murphy, and Taila Santos.
Alongside the best way, she etched her identify within the historical past books, claiming a slew of data, together with essentially the most title wins, most consecutive title defenses, most takedowns landed, most management time, and essentially the most whole strikes landed in girls’s flyweight historical past. She was additionally named the World MMA Awards’ 2022 Feminine Fighter of the 12 months.
Valentina Shevchenko will look to reclaim the crown
Valentina Shevchenko’s time on the high of 125 got here to an finish on March 4, 2023, when she suffered a shocking fourth-round submission loss by the hands of Guadalajara native Alexa Grasso. Six months later, ‘Bullet’ got here up in need of reclaiming the crown in the course of the UFC’s Mexican Independence Day celebration, going 5 rounds with Grasso just for the combat to be scored as a split draw.
The ladies are anticipated to run it again a 3rd time later, however first, they’ll go toe-to-toe as coaches of The Final Fighter 32.
Till then, take a look at highlights from Valentina Shevchenko’s iconic flyweight title reign beneath:
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