Montreal — Valentina Shevchenko has found Manon Fiorot rather disrespectful ahead of their showdown at UFC 315, where “Bullet” will look to defend her flyweight title against the French challenger.
That doesn’t mean Fiorot’s talk online has gotten to her all that much.
Asked about how Fiorot’s journey in MMA compared to her own during Wednesday’s UFC 315 media day, Shevchenko (24-4-1) stated that did didn’t think it was “appropriate to compare myself to her,” adding that was because “I never will approach any of my opponents with so much disrespect, as she did.”
That having been said, nothing coming from Fiorot has gotten to her, the champ added. “Nothing, no. My experience with martial arts, it’s so many years. I started when I was five, and all these years before joining the UFC, I was already a 17-time world champion, in Muay Thai, in MMA and kickboxing. So imagine how many different characters I was able to meet, and how many words they could say or something.”
“If everything bothered me, I never would [have] achieved what I achieved.”
For UFC 315, Shevchenko has a custom fight kit, one that has been warmly received by fans. The two-time UFC flyweight champ actually shared her ideas with the designer, with a couple of options presented before she settled on a design featuring a dragon, tiger, and of course a bullet. “It’s opposing but complimentary forces. And all together, it’s representing yin-yang. Dynamic, dynamic balance of the universe,” Shevchenko explained. “And this is exactly what martial arts stands for for me. It’s balance. It’s like, strong forces, and know when to step back, when to step forward. And definitely bullet, it’s my personality.”
UNLEASH THE DRAGON 🐉@BulletValentina will wear this custom fight kit on Saturday night!
Buy your own here: https://t.co/8kpovHPwha | @UFCStore pic.twitter.com/LjZAtq6Hkf
— UFC (@ufc) May 6, 2025
The style was based in part on Thai tattoos, with Shevchenko sporting one in a similar vein. “Thailand, because of my Muay Thai career, so many years of Muay Thai and spending so much time in Thailand fighting and traveling. And definitely tiger, dragon, I was born in the year of [the] dragon, and the bullet is who I am.”
Shevchenko’s sister, Antonina Shevchenko, a fellow UFC fighter, announced her retirement from MMA earlier this year. Valentina told Cageside Press on Wednesday that when it comes to her sister walking away, it’s mixed emotions – happy that her sister has a new career, sadness that she’ll no longer be in her corner.
“It’s both. I’m very happy that she’s successful in what she’s doing right now, she’s a pilot, she’s working on the jets,” noted Shevchenko. “She’s building her career the same the [way] as she was doing mixed martial arts. But at the same time, I’m missing her being in my corner. And I think that it’s kind of like a person next to you, that you share in so much, all things in common. It’s definitely something that I miss.”
Watch Valentina Shevchenko’s full UFC 315 media day appearance above.
