Valentina’s Shevchenko’s focus lies in capturing women’s bantamweight gold.
She’ll have a chance to realize her dream tomorrow night (July 8) inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada in the main event of UFC 213. “Bullet” will challenge 135-pound title holder Amanda Nunes.
Much has been made about the introduction of the women’s flyweight division in the UFC. During a recent appearance on the Fight Society podcast, Shevchenko said she wasn’t interested in putting her focus on that (via MMA Weekly):
“Yes this is like recent news that the UFC opened a new female division. It’s very good, it’s very nice but right now at this moment, at this point in time, I’m very focused on my upcoming fight. I don’t want to spend a lot of thought or a lot of time thinking about that this will happen in the future. Right now, my future is [July 8].”
“Bullet” then said winning the gold tomorrow night will prove that she is an elite fighter.
“This is every time what I wanted. In my Muay Thai career, I was a 17-time world champion. Muay Thai, K-1, kickboxing and every time when I was fighting, I didn’t want fight with anyone but only the best fighters. This is one way to show that you are the best to fight with the best.”
