Following her hard-fought victory over Manon Fiorot at UFC 315, flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko expressed her strong desire that Fiorot does not follow through on a pre-fight retirement wager.
The retirement stipulation was a notable part of the build-up for Saturday`s co-main event, where Shevchenko successfully defended her title in a competitive fight against Fiorot. Fiorot, 35, had initially proposed Shevchenko retire if she lost, and Shevchenko countered that the same condition should apply to Fiorot if she was defeated.
Speaking to the media after her win, Shevchenko clarified that she never intended the wager to be taken seriously and explicitly asked Fiorot to reconsider retiring.
“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, who is 37, also indicated that she likely wouldn`t have retired herself had she lost. Her victory allows her to postpone that decision while celebrating another successful championship performance. “Bullet” navigated Fiorot`s aggressive style effectively over five rounds, earning unanimous 48-47 scores from the judges.
She attributed her successful preparation for Fiorot`s southpaw stance to training with her sister, Antonina, who recently retired from fighting.
“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.”
Holding the flyweight belt once again, Shevchenko is now looking ahead. Strawweight champion Zhang Weili has expressed interest in a potential superfight between the two champions.
Adding another name to the title picture, flyweight contender Natalia Silva extended her winning streak on the same night by convincingly defeating former champion Alexa Grasso, improving her UFC record to 7-0 and positioning herself as a top contender.
Shevchenko stated she doesn`t have a strong preference between potential opponents, suggesting the fans could help decide.
“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.”
