Valentina Shevchenko secured a victory over Manon Fiorot at UFC 315, but she clarified afterwards that she has no desire for that outcome to lead to Fiorot ending her career.
The topic of retirement was brought up during the pre-fight discussions for Saturday’s co-main event, where Shevchenko successfully defended her flyweight title in a competitive bout against Fiorot. Fiorot, 35, had initially suggested that Shevchenko should retire if she were defeated. Shevchenko responded by agreeing to the premise but stating Fiorot should also retire if she lost.
However, Shevchenko later explained that the wager was never meant to be taken seriously and urged Fiorot not to retire when speaking to the media after the fight.
“To be very clear, before the fight Manon [suggested] that if she won, I retire,” Shevchenko stated. “I responded to her, if I won, she retires. So I completely don’t want her to retire. This is what I really don’t want her to follow her words because I feel it’s unfair for the fighter because someone put [the words] in her mouth to promote the fight or something like that and now she feels she has to retire? No, don’t follow your words, please stay fighting.”
Shevchenko, who turned 37 in March, also indicated that she likely wouldn`t have retired even if she had lost. But she avoided that situation by delivering another championship-level performance, finding ways to counteract Fiorot`s aggressive approach throughout five rounds to earn identical 48-47 scores from all judges.
She credited her recently retired sister, Antonina, for helping her prepare specifically for Fiorot`s southpaw style.
“During my fighting career, my main partner, one of the main partners was my sister and she’s southpaw,” Shevchenko commented. “Her kicks and her punches are incomparable. So the speed, the power, and everything and working with her during all these years is kind of like, now when Manon throws the kicks, I kind of see them from very, very far.”
With the win, Shevchenko holds significant leverage regarding her next opponent. Strawweight champion Zhang Weili has publicly expressed interest in facing her in a highly anticipated superfight.
Meanwhile, flyweight contender Natalia Silva also made a strong case for being the next title challenger on the same card. She continued her impressive streak with a dominant performance against former 125-pound champion Alexa Grasso, improving her perfect UFC record to 7-0.
Shevchenko stated she doesn`t have a personal preference between the two potential challengers, suggesting the fans could play a role in deciding.
“Everyone was saying Weili or Natalia?” Shevchenko mused. “So I don’t know, maybe fans can pay some role in that and if they can join my OnlyFans page and drop some messages who they want to see me fight next, we’ll compare who’s next.”
