Henry Cejudo and Valentina Shevchenko squash their beef

One of the most bizarre MMA stories to come out of 2019 so far was Henry Cejudo’s call-out of Valentina Shevchenko. Cejudo called out the women’s flyweight champion, challenging her to an ‘inter-gender’ bout.

The pair went at it for weeks on social media but couldn’t hide behind the Twitter veil when they came face to face in Abu Dhabi. The pair came face-to-face ahead of the UFC 242 card this weekend. They put their supposed beef to rest when they met backstage.

According to MMA Junkie, the pair were quite chummy right from the get-go. In a clip that has since been deleted, Shevchenko puts Henry Cejudo in a choke hold. He yelled “No Mas!” and the pair proceeded to joke around.

This proved to many dubious fans that, when Cejudo called Shevchenko out, it was in jest. The American, who holds the UFC men’s flyweight and bantamweight belts, has recently stepped up his trash talking antics and has been running with the intergender theme, calling out other females fighters such as Germaine De Randamie and Amanda Nunes. He also took to Twitter to call for a fight against Dominick Cruz and trashed him in the process.

Are you surprised to see Henry Cejudo and Valentina Shevchenko squashed their “beef?”

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 9/4/2019.