Valentina Shevchenko: how a girl from Bishkek became a star fighter in the USA

Valentina Shevchenko is a Kyrgyz fighter of mixed martial arts, acting under the auspices of the UFC. As of January 2017, the second line of the official ranking UFC in the women's bantam weight after the victory over American Julian Peña in Denver.

Sport as a family tradition

Valentina started martial arts in 1993, when she was 5 years, under the guidance of her coach Pavel Fedotov, who continues to train at the moment, writes a sports publication Muay.

The love of martial arts passed on to Valentina from her mother.

“It’s more like a family tradition for us. Mom, Elena, is an athlete herself. She has a third Dan and a black belt in ITF Taekwondo. Therefore, my older sister Antonina and I followed in her footsteps. Antonina is a 3-time world champion in various sports,” Shevchenko said.

According to her, victory in a battle depends on a huge number of factors: training, mood, nutrition, sincerity in the desire to win and the ability to respect the opponent.

“Attitude is the first thing that helps you win a fight. For me, the mood is not only a few hours before the fight, it’s much more. This is how you prepare for championships, how you train, what you eat, what you think about, what you say... Victory is not earned in a few minutes spent in the ring, it comes together bit by bit. And the one who was more sincere in his training and desire to win will win,” Shevchenko said.

Her talismans are tattoos that the athlete considers "magical."

“I did the first one, on the shoulder, in 2006 after the Muay Thai World Championship in Thailand (this was the 5th world championship in which I took part). It depicts the emblem of the Thai Boxing Federation of the Kyrgyz Republic and the emblem of the club of my coach - Honored Trainer of Russia, Master of Sports of the International Category Pavel Fedotov. By the way, this emblem is my talisman; it depicts 2 leopards, made in the style of the Kyrgyz national pattern, and in the middle is a fist in the ying-yang style. Just recently, after the last world championship, I got a tattoo of a Thai deity, the patron saint of all Thai boxers,” said the athlete.

Fans of martial arts Valentina is known under the pseudonym “Bullet”, she was assigned to her by the coach.

“The coach always gives pseudonyms to his students because he sees their character traits and fighting style. There is a belief that if you give a fighter a good name, then good luck will always be with him. And if something is wrong, then you urgently need to change your nickname,” the athlete explained.

Sports achivments

Valentina Shevchenko is the 16 multiple world champion, the 2 multiple winner of the World Sport Accord Combat Games in 2010 and 2013; 11 multiple muay thai world champion; 3 Kickboxing World Champion and 1 K; 2 MMA World Champion.

In addition, she is the champion of South America and the champion of Pan-America in muay thai, has the title of "Best female tayboxer world" (2008 year).

Such a list of titles, according to Valentina, imposes a huge responsibility.

“The title of world champion comes with great responsibility. When you enter the ring, you can no longer fight just to fight, because everyone is waiting for something more. You must be able to perform beautifully, demonstrating both technique and tactics. The title of world champion imposes the responsibility to train and improve more than anyone else and better than anyone else,” the athlete admitted.

A talented person is talented in everything

A strict training regimen and the sport itself are little associated with femininity, but Valentina, who believes that “a woman should always remain feminine and graceful in everything,” found a way out - she practices dancing, which, in her opinion, “is a wonderful way to helping to maintain softness, elegance and sensuality.”

The athlete has succeeded in this direction.

Valentina and Antonina perform Russian dances in Latin America, where their shows are very popular.

“My favorite dances are Lezginka, to which I always go to battle, tap dancing and gypsy dance. In addition to Thai boxing, I teach dancing,” admitted Valentina, who became interested in folk dancing as a child, and has since developed her fighting and dancing skills in parallel.

But this is not the end of Shevchenko’s talents. In addition to dancing, Valentina is engaged in other types of creativity, in particular, photo and video shooting, and also writes pictures.

Since 2008, the Shevchenko sisters have been actively participating in competitions in practical pistol shooting IPSC, IDPA.

Personal life

Valentina is sure that it is impossible to combine professional sports, creativity and family life, so the woman is not in a hurry with marriage.

“While a fighter is “active” and competes in tournaments, it is very difficult for him to combine these things. This is not yet possible for me, because I am now devoting myself entirely to sports. But family is important, especially later, when I finish performing. So far, sport comes first for me,” the woman admitted.

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