Valentina Shevchenko doesn’t shy away from expressing her views nonchalantly, especially about her fights or rivals. With her next fight just a day away, Shevchenko recently clapped back at her scheduled rival, Manon Fiorot, for her retirement threat back in 2024. ‘Bullet’ also mentioned that Fiorot’s “disrespectful” act came out of her desperation.
Valentina Shevchenko Stayed Unfazed Despite Her Retaliation Against Manon Fiorot
Shevchenko reclaimed the UFC flyweight title at UFC 306 with a victory by unanimous decision against Alexa Grasso after losing it to her in the first fight of their rivalry at UFC 285. Fiorot started firing disses at Shevchenko shortly after her UFC 306 victory to make her case for her long-awaited title shot.
In November 2024, the 35-year-old French flyweight took a stiff jibe at Shevchenko for allegedly delaying the negotiations for their fight with the flyweight title on the line. ‘The Beast’ also claimed that she would retire Shevchenko.
‘Bullet’, who generally maintains a respectful demeanor, wasn’t impressed by her adversary’s deriding remarks. She proposed a “retirement” deal for the loser of their fight, along with a scathing remark. “You lose – you retire. Deal? Ill-mannered first-grader”, said the Kyrgyzstani fighter.
You lose – you retire 👊 Deal ?!!
ill-mannered first-grader https://t.co/ni4YIGXDjg
— Valentina Shevchenko (@BulletValentina) November 8, 2024
Fiorot showcased no signs of backing up. She fired back by accepting Shevchenko’s proposal, along with another diss. ‘The Beast’ mentioned, “Deal, I’ll take you seriously when you’ve signed the contract. ‘Damn teacher’s pet.'”
Shevchenko revisited this chapter of her feud during the recently concluded UFC 315 media day. ‘Bullet” began by voicing her discontent at Fiorot’s “disrespectful” attitude during the buildup to the fight.
She said, “I don’t think that it’s appropriate to compare myself to her, because I never will approach any of my opponents with so much disrespect that she did.”
‘Bullet’ also mentioned that she wasn’t impressed with Fiorot’s timing in starting the feud since she was recovering from the wear and tear of her UFC 306 at the time. Shevchenko linked her French rival’s act to her desperation for the title fight.
“She started to throw this Tweet [Fiorot’s retirement threatening X update] a little bit too soon, in my opinion. It was one month after the fight. But I understand, she was desperate. She had a little bit [of delay]. But I think everything, at the end, worked perfectly.”
Shevchenko’s comments also indicated that she hadn’t lost focus despite all this back-and-forth between her and Fiorot. The two-time flyweight queen mentioned she has grown immune to such situations after experiencing them multiple times in her prolonged combat sports career, even before her UFC entry.
“My experience in martial arts, it’s so many years. I started when I was five and all these years before joining UFC I already was 17-time world champion in Muay Thai, in MMA, in kickboxing. So imagine how many different characters I was able to meet and how many words they could say. If everything would bother me, I never would achieve what I achieved. I think it’s my biggest ability to block all the energy that’s happening around and focus on your main goal.”
It will be interesting to see if Shevchenko’s resolve is enough to retain her flyweight title against Fiorot, especially since the odds are viewing her as the underdog in the fight.