Valentina Shevchenko News

Tom Taylor - September 7, 2018

This morning, mere hours ahead of the UFC 228 weigh-ins, UFC flyweight champion Nicco Montano was rushed to the emergency ward of a hospital in the card’s host city of Dallas, Texas. While it was immediately clear the champion’s title fight with fearsome challenger Valentina Shevchenko was in jeopardy, it was not clear whether the fight would be cancelled. Now, we know for sure. According to a report from ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, Nicco Montano will not compete at UFC 228, and her fight with Valentina Shevchenko is off.

Drake Riggs - July 24, 2018

“Every match starts 0-0. Anyone can talk anybody up. Everyone saw how the Ronda Rousey – Holly Holm fight went. They saw how Miesha Tate and Ronda Rousey’s fights went, like, there’s no MMA match that’s going to be able to tell you the outcome a hundred percent. So yeah, that doesn’t bother me at all.

Drake Riggs - July 20, 2018

After overcoming the odds once before as well as a crippling foot injury on top of it, the inaugural UFC flyweight champion Nicco Montano is ready to carry the underdog status into UFC 228 once again. The opening odds for Montano’s very first title defense against former bantamweight title challenger Valentina Shevchenko have been released by Bet DSI. And they set a record that a champion doesn’t want to have.

Tom Taylor - July 6, 2018

Top UFC women’s flyweight contender Valentina Shevchenko has been gunning for the division’s inaugural champion Nicco Montano for months. Now that Montano is fighting fit, it looks as though the pair will be booked to fight at UFC 228 on September 8.

Drake Riggs - June 25, 2018

The name ‘Shevchenko’ will forever be synonymous with the ever talented, Valentina ‘Bullet’ Shevchenko. However, another Shevchenko plans to leave a mark of their own in the MMA world. Valentina’s older sister, Antonina will be headlining tomorrow night’s installment of Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series when she takes on Jaymee Nievara.

Chris Taylor - June 16, 2018

A women’s flyweight title fight featuring top contender Valentina Shevchenko taking on current division champion Nicco Montano is in the works for September’s UFC 228 event. “The Bullet” took to Twitter earlier today with the following message for Nicco Montano encouraging the current 125-pound champion to sign the fight agreement.

Drake Riggs - June 14, 2018

After constant harassment from fans on social media while recovering from a serious foot injury, the inaugural UFC flyweight champ is ready to make her first title defense. The champion, Nicco Montano announced the news on Instagram today that she is ready to defend her title against former 135-pound title challenger, Valentina ‘Bullet’ Shevchenko at UFC 228 on September 8th in Las Vegas.

Tom Taylor - May 23, 2018

Valentina Shevchenko wants a shot at UFC flyweight champion Nicco Montano. That could not be any clearer. Unfortunately for her, the fight has proven a little difficult to put together. This, of course, is not the fault of Montano, who has been recovering from a tonsillectomy. Yet Shevchenko seems to be getting tired of waiting all the same, arguing that if Montano is not healthy enough to fight, she should drop the belt. “Not yet, we are not at that point [of Montano vacating the title],” Shevchenko said on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour (transcribed by Peter Carroll of MMA Fighting) “but I think it would be very right to do things like this because if you are not ready to fight, if you don’t want to fight, you have to leave the belt — you cannot hold it.

Drake Riggs - March 21, 2018

A UFC debut can’t get much rougher than the one that new UFC flyweight, Priscila Cachoeira had to go through last month. The undefeated Brazilian newcomer, Cachoeira entered the octagon for the very first time in her home country…but in the end, that was about the only good memory to come of that night in Belem. Her opponent would be none other than the recent bantamweight title challenger and multiple time Muay Thai champion, Valentina Shevchenko.

Tom Taylor - March 21, 2018

UFC women’s bantamweight champ Amanda Nunes and top flyweight contender Valentina Shevchenko have previously engaged in two competitive scraps, with Nunes’ emerging the victor by a narrow margin on both occasions. While the grounds for a third fight would certainly seem to be there as a result, this is not something Nunes is interested in. “I don’t care about [Shevchenko],” Nunes told MMAJunkie this week. “She’s, like, only Valentina. She’s going to talk about me. I’m the best, you know? That’s why she talks about me.”

Tom Taylor - March 20, 2018

Nicco Montano is the UFC women’s flyweight champion. She earned that distinction with a December decision defeat of Roxanne Modafferi. While Montano is the champion, however, many fans seem to consider flyweight contender Valentina Shevchenko the division’s best fighter. There are even some fans who believe Montano is avoiding Shevchenko. Speaking to KRQE earlier this month, Montano explained that this simply isn’t the case. She’s currently doing her best to heal up from a nasty foot injury, and his happy to defend against Shevchenko when she’s fighting fit.

Justin Golightly - March 9, 2018

It hasn’t been that long since Valentina Shevchenko’s absolute domination of Priscila Cachoeira at UFC Belem. It was her flyweight debut and she used that as an alarm siren to every 125-pound woman on the planet. She wasted no time at all calling out the champion Nicco Montano, but there has been nothing but crickets. She had since spoken to us about her impatience with Montano and now it seems it has reached a boiling point. Shevchenko scolds her in this recent interview and says it’s not becoming of a champion. “I heard that [Nicco Montano] already started to train, so I was thinking like, from now it’s about, like, how many months? Three, four months? It’s enough time to be in good shape and good preparation, so let’s see. Still, like, I haven’t heard too much from her, but I hope she will talk soon and hopefully she will accept because I don’t see another [option for an opponent], I just see my next fight for the title with Nicco. She won it a few months ago, but she has to move forward and she has to defend it. And like I said, there is no way to be so quiet and don’t say nothing.”

Justin Golightly - February 10, 2018

After Valentina Shevchenko’s anticipated debut in the women’s flyweight division, the one thing everyone had on their mind came into reality: The Bullet is a serious problem for this new division. She put on just about the most dominant performance you can imagine against Priscila Cachoeira at UFC Belem, then immediately called out women’s flyweight champion crowned from The Ultimate Fighter 26, Nicco Montano. That wasn’t the only message she had for her new division’s belt holder. Sooner or later, they’ll have to fight. There is no escaping it. “You know, my time out is such a little bit. I just need a little time to recover me from my last preparation. To recover my mental energy, my physical energy and I’m ready. I’m ready to fight anytime, anywhere, and I hope that [Nicco Montano] will be like a champion and agree to fight as soon as she can and we will [fight for the UFC women’s flyweight title] this next time. I think [to return in] March is a little bit early, but let’s see, let’s wait a call from UFC. You know, I don’t think that [Montano] can be injured forever.”

Drake Riggs - February 8, 2018

“I think i’m one or two fights away [from a title shot]. I think [Valentina] Shevchenko will fight for the title next and I would like to fight her for the title. So however many I need to have between now and then, that’s what i’m working towards 100%.

Drake Riggs - February 8, 2018

When you bring up the discussion of best female flyweight fighters in the world today, very few if any will say that Invicta FC champion, Jennifer Maia isn’t #1. The Curitiba, Brazil native, Maia has defended her title twice and is currently on a six-fight winning streak that includes wins over Vanessa Porto, Agnieszka Niedzwiedz, and Roxanne Modaferri. Around the time that the UFC was ready to crown their inaugural 125-pound champion after a season of The Ultimate Fighter, Maia was ready to defend her title the week after. As one might imagine, Maia should have been a part of the tournament to decide the UFC’s first flyweight champion. Instead, Maia turned down the offer to participate on the show and as she told MMAFighting, it was for a pretty understandable reason:

Jason Kindschy - February 8, 2018

BJPENN Radio returns tonight at 8PM ET/5PM PT! 8:15PM ET- Our guest for the evening is “Bullet” Valentina Shevchenko. Following what can only be described as one of the most dominant wins in recent MMA history over Priscila Cachoeria this past weekend, Valentina has been the hottest topic in the combat sports headlines. With this impressive and authoritative victory, Shevchenko claimed the No. 1 spot in the women’s flyweight rankings and struck fear into the hearts of everyone in the division. Now eyeing gold in her new weight class, we’ll recap her incredible performance and discuss the looming title fight against current champ, Nicco Montano. Valentina will also share her thoughts on the backlash against referee Mario Yamasaki for not stopping the fight earlier, what she has planned for the remainder of 2018, and the likelihood that she battles Amanda Nunes once again before the end of the year. All that and much more with “Bullet!”

Tom Taylor - February 8, 2018

In the wake of last weekend’s UFC Belem card, the UFC has updated its official rankings. The biggest shakeups in this latest iteration of the rankings can all be attributed to Valentina Shevchenko. Having left the UFC women’s bantamweight division (where she was formerly ranked number one), and officially announced herself in the UFC’s new women’s flyweight division, Shevchenko has caused tectonic shifts in both divisions.

Justin Golightly - February 7, 2018

There has been a lot on mixed opinions and controversy since Valentina Shevchenko’s domination against Priscila Cachoeira at UFC Belem. So much so, that Shevchenko’s amazing performance has taken a back seat to referee and corner criticism. Rose Namajunas has put in many hours with ‘The Bullet’ so she was watching the fight closely. She recently opened up about her thoughts on if they fight should have been stopped or not. If it was her? She definitely would have wanted the towel threw in. “That [late stoppage is] a touchy subject. I think clearly you saw that [Priscila Cachoeira] wasn’t going to improve her position [against Valentina Shevchenko]. So, you could definitely make the argument for that was a little too long.  […] I told my corner [Trevor Whitman] that if I’m lookin’ like that in a fight, the just throw in the towel for me, but that’s my personal choice. Those strikes on the canvas – in certain positions they weren’t that bad – but when you’re in full mount and somebody is raining down punches on you, your head is hitting the canvas too so it’s like double impact.”