Valentina Shevchenko defeated Manon Fiorot at UFC 315, dismissing any serious intention behind their pre-fight retirement wager, and now looks forward to her next championship fight, potentially against Zhang Weili or Natalia Silva, leaving the decision to her fans.
Valentina Shevchenko triumphed over Manon Fiorot at UFC 315. But she’s not about to push Fiorot into retirement.
Before the fight, there was chatter about retirement stakes. Fiorot, 35, suggested that if she won, Shevchenko should retire. Shevchenko countered with the same proposal for Fiorot.
However, Shevchenko never took this seriously. Post-fight, she urged Fiorot not to hang up her gloves.
“To be very clear, before the fight Manon [suggested] that if she won, I retire,” Shevchenko said. “I responded to her, if I won, she retires. So I completely don’t want her to retire. This is what I really don’t want her to follow her words because I feel it’s unfair for the fighter because someone put [the words] in her mouth to promote the fight or something like that and now she feels she has to retire? No, don’t follow your words, please stay fighting.”
Shevchenko, now 37, probably wouldn’t have retired either. Her performance was enough to keep that decision at bay, winning with a 48-47 score.
She gave a nod to her sister Antonina, who recently retired, for helping her prepare for Fiorot’s southpaw style.
“During my fighting career, my main partner, one of the main partners was my sister and she’s southpaw,” Shevchenko said. “Her kicks and her punches are incomparable. So the speed, the power, and everything and working with her during all these years is kind of like, now when Manon throws the kicks, I kind of see them from very, very far.”
With the win, Shevchenko looks ahead to another title defense. Strawweight champ Zhang Weili is interested in a potential matchup.
Meanwhile, flyweight contender Natalia Silva made a statement by defeating Alexa Grasso, improving to 7-0 in the UFC.
Shevchenko doesn’t have a preference for her next opponent. She’s open to fan input.
“Everyone was saying Weili or Natalia?” Shevchenko said. “So I don’t know, maybe fans can pay some role in that and if they can join my OnlyFans page and drop some messages who they want to see me fight next, we’ll compare who’s next.”