At 37, UFC women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko was already on the short list of the greatest female fighters in MMA history.
On Saturday, as a betting underdog in the co-main event of UFC 315 in Montreal, Shevchenko (25-4-1) only added to her growing legend by making the first defense of her second title reign at 125 pounds in a close and tense unanimous decision over red-hot French striker Manon Fiorot (12-2).
Shevchenko took home identical scores of 48-47 on all three cards inside Bell Centre as the native of Kyrgyzstan extended her UFC record for victories by a female in title bouts to 10 in her eighth overall title defense.
“I was expecting a very hard fight because Manon is a hard opponent and a good striker but everything that I worked on in terms of getting ready for the fight, I was able to do,” Shevchenko said.
After the opening round, it appeared as if Shevchenko was on her way to a quick and easy victory after Fiorot, 35, had no answer for the quick right-hand counters of the southpaw champion, who bloodied Fiorot’s nose and had her looking defeated.
To her credit, however, Fiorot battled back to claim the next two rounds by slowing down the action and using a combination of timely takedowns and physicality in the clinch along the cage to seemingly pull ahead.
The reason that Shevchenko is renowned as such a legend is due to her ability to adjust on the fly, which is how she rebounded from an upset submission loss to Alexa Grasso in 2023 to ultimately exit their trilogy last September by regaining her title due to relying on her grappling.
In the championship rounds against Fiorot, it was the spinning backfist that became Shevchenko’s weapon of choice. The champion also closed Round 4 by twice countering Fiorot with stiff right hands as the second one dropped her to the canvas.
In a close and tense Round 5, Shevchenko did just enough as a counter striker to overcome the clinch work of Fiorot to take home a close decision.
“For so many years, my main training partner was my sister [former UFC flyweight] Antonina [Shevchenko] and she was a southpaw so I dedicate this victory to her and to my mom,” Shevchenko said. “[The key is to] keep going [at this age]. It’s like, numbers are nothing, it’s more important how you feel mentally and physically. It’s how you perform.”
Fiorot suffered her first defeat since her 2018 pro debut when she dropped a split decision to Leah McCourt at Cage Warriors 94. Fiorot had won all seven of her UFC bouts dating back to 2021, including four consecutive wins over former title challengers and champions.
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings