Born to fight: Valentina Shevchenko, the UFC champion who broke two of Halle Berry's ribs

For the MMA fighter and UFC flyweight champion,

, martial arts are not just another discipline.

They are her lifestyle: she has been practicing them since she was five years old.

In fact, he does it alongside his sister, Antonina, and under the influence of his mother, who was a taekowondo player and president of the Kyrgyzstan Mujer Thai Federation.

Born in that country, Valentina forged a career alongside her coach, Pavel Fedotov.

All of this is enough to justify the title hereof: she was born to fight... Literally.

But there is more.

Next Saturday at

she will defend her company belt against the Mexican

.

With a 23-3 record, she is also a multi-world champion in muay thai, K1 and kickboxing and other MMA championships in Korea.

In her tenure in the UFC she only lost twice to Amanda Nunes, losing via unanimous decision and split in a rematch, a ruling that many found controversial.

Valentina Shevchenko was chosen the best MMA fighter of 2022.

In his career he did not stop pressing the accelerator.

At just 12 years old, she knocked out a 22-year-old opponent, which inspired her teacher to nickname her "

" for being fast and deadly.

She was recently chosen as the best female fighter of 2022 by

.

Valentina Shevchenko with Halle Berry, in a scene from "Bruised".

Photo file.

Valentina lived in Peru eight years from 2009, from where she traveled throughout Latin America and was fascinated by the customs and the way of being of the Latinos.

She was nationalized Peruvian and competed for that country for a long time in different disciplines.

Exclusively with

before defending her title for the eighth time on a historic billboard, Valentina was friendly, smiling and happy for the opportunity to speak to the press.

The humility of a great one that she is still enthusiastic about throwing punches, like she was when she was five years old.

The importance of "balance"

- Did you imagine a race like this?

- I'm not a person to imagine a career or what's to come... I'm taking what is step by step.

Goal number one, to be a champion.

Afterwards, each time defend the title.

So the more defenses the better.

- What should you take care of your rival?

- It's MMA, here you have to take care of everything.

But, at the same time, use all the weapons you have to win the fight.

In the best way, the easiest and the soonest possible.

Valentina Shevchenko spoke by Zoom with Clarín.

- You are already one of the best athletes in the world.

Isn't it hard for you to find a motivation day by day when you reached so high?

- No. I do not agree that it is difficult to maintain motivation every day, that fire within you.

It's not hard at all when you love what you do.

Martial arts are my path, my lifestyle that I have been doing for 30 years.

It's always a motivation, I love it.

- And you don't get tired of anything?

I mean training, weight cutting, etc.

- It is a balance, the balance that a person can have in his life.

There is time to train, two or three months, there is the time to fight, which is when you give your all and put all your strength forward.

But later, when a fight is over... What are you going to do?

There are many things to do.

I would love to travel, get to know new countries, new traditions, cultures, people.

I love to go shooting, practice shooting.

I love doing the sport of defensive shooting (IDPA - International Defensive Pistol Association).

It is an excellent sport where you also have to be in good physical condition, but you also work a lot with emotions, to calm down.

The weapon teaches you to respect everything you do, not only the weapon, but in general.

A respect for everything.

I also like spending time on the boat, sailing and living on it.

I can go to the sea for two months and walk between islands... That also makes me happy and, at the same time, teaches me many things.

You have to know about the wind, about the currents of the sea, how to get in and out of the marina... Those things are what you add to your way of being.

It is a balance, a balance.

If a person can find it in life, then nothing is boring or tiresome, because you feel that change from one to the other, like a dance.

- You also practiced dance: did it help you as a martial artist?

- Yes too.

I can't say that it helped me a lot in martial arts, because they are different (laughs).

But it also helped to find this balance.

Dancing is good... You have to have a good control of your body.

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A post shared by Valentina Shevchenko (@bulletvalentina)

- How do you analyze the moment of MMA and UFC?

- MMA is now the number one sport, and the UFC is the biggest and strongest organization in the world.

So, that says it all.

In the modern world, being the number one contact sport... Needless to say more.

- There are no coincidences what you are, since you train hard since you were five years old.

Do you think you have a natural talent or is it because of work?

- I think it's a combination.

No talented person cannot go far without discipline and work.

At the beginning it can be seen that everything is easy, everything goes well.

But if you want to reach the top, you have to put a lot of discipline and work.

Similarly, a person who has less talent, with discipline and work can go far too.

- Is Latin America very different from Kyrgyzstan?

- Yes, it is quite different, of course.

Latin America has a lifestyle, the people... In Asia it is completely different with its traditions.

But that's the magic.

You can see different cultures and take from each one what seems best to you.

I loved the time we were in Latin America.

We were living in Peru, but traveling all over.

Several times in Argentina, where in Córdoba we have good friends who are also fighters.

We were in Buenos Aires, of course.

In Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador... we compete in all these countries.

It's excellent, I really like getting to know different countries and cultures.

- Since you named Córdoba, I think you know Martín "Escopeta" Gil, who was in Tiger Muay Thai in Thailand.

- Yes, Martín trained with my coach, and traveled when we lived in the Amazon.

We had a camp and our Pavel (his coach) called him and told him to come train with us.

He trained for a few months and became an excellent fighter.

He then traveled to Chile and won a world championship with a first round KO.

When he went to Thailand he had an excellent muay thai career, getting many knockouts with his favorite technique: spinning elbow.

- How was the experience of filming the film?

Do you want to continue acting?

- I would love to continue filming.

I really liked the experience.

Halle is an excellent person, we became friends.

Before and after the fights she congratulates me and we are always in contact.

I would love to do more movies.

It's really something I want to do in the future.

UFC 285: a special billboard 

Jon Bones Jones in a file photo.

(Photo: Instagram)

brings a long-awaited return with a great novelty.

After more than three years away from the most famous octagon of MMA due to personal problems and various sanctions, the dominant former light heavyweight champion, Jon Jones, returns to fight for a title.

And he will do it in a higher category against the Frenchman Ciryl Gane, for the heavyweight belt vacated by Francis Ngannou, who left the company after failed negotiations for the money from the bag of a possible fight against Jon Jones himself. which ultimately never happened.

"Bones" has not fought since February 2020, when he beat Dominick Reyes fairly by unanimous decision, which was one of the most controversial in recent years.

He was the youngest UFC champion and defended his belt multiple times, always with success.

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