{"id":393428,"date":"2026-01-07T07:41:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T07:41:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/393428\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T07:41:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T07:41:14","slug":"valentina-shevchenko-calls-out-womens-mma-critics-for-lack-of-interest-in-fights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/393428\/","title":{"rendered":"Valentina Shevchenko calls out Women&#8217;s MMA critics for lack of interest in fights"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>UFC women\u2019s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko sent a strong message to harsh critics of women\u2019s MMA fights.<\/p>\n<p>One of the biggest fights in women\u2019s MMA history is weeks away at UFC 324 as UFC bantamweight champion Kayla Harrison faces Amanda Nunes. Nunes, who retired following a bantamweight title defense at UFC 289, will return to the Octagon and end her retirement for a showdown with her former teammate, Harrison.<\/p>\n<p>Weeks before UFC 324, UFC women\u2019s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko battled former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bjpenn.com\/mma-news\/valentina-shevchenko\/pros-react-after-valentina-shevchenko-dominates-zhang-weili-at-ufc-322\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">UFC strawweight champion Zhang Weili at UFC 322<\/a>, in what was hyped as one of the biggest fights in women\u2019s MMA history. Shevchenko won the fight, but the entertainment value of the bout fell well short of expectations.<\/p>\n<p>Shevchenko, fresh off back-to-back sluggish performances in the Octagon, is one of several female fighters who have come under criticism in recent months. But Shevchenko sent a strong message to trolls who mock female fighters.<\/p>\n<p>Valentina Shevchenko addresses harsh criticism of women\u2019s MMA fights<\/p>\n<p>In a recent interview with <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/dlOGMQeGQwU?si=tBneElQ37cSWuz8L\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Ushatayka<\/a>, Shevchenko was asked about the tendency of some fans to joke they\u2019re \u2018using the restroom\u2019 or doing other activities during women\u2019s MMA fights.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMost people don\u2019t ask themselves what, how, or why. They simply repeat what they\u2019re told. Journalists say things from their platforms, and many people just repeat it without thinking,\u201d Shevchenko said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn reality, they don\u2019t truly feel that way. The phrase lives on only because it\u2019s repeated without engaging the mind. First of all, the beautiful form that highlights physique and athleticism. A woman shows not only strength, but also grace.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe controls her body and demonstrates complex, varied techniques. For example, spinning strikes \u2014 that\u2019s very beautiful.\u201d (h\/t <a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/articles\/valentina-shevchenko-calls-ufc-fans-223000133.html?guccounter=1&amp;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&amp;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAACbp3ZXpWMWfyCkuevrA4bHKn_e_7LDONOqTjUqbBa7AeCuO_nsn3SBoI7cywZrOuwOmWvcNKzUf97RsWCPBrFXYynAnzcCkWvcNTtsCKme7N6Ujdj2f3B5s5tXKn3wJimpNOZQ0RAQBEX3Z-o-zjuU3NZkCDl0YLIroZBzHI1YN\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Yahoo! Sports<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>Hopefully, Harrison vs. Nunes can change the minds of some fight fans who are opposed to female MMA fights. In the meantime, as Shevchenko prepares for her next flyweight title defense, she hopes women\u2019s MMA continues to grow its spotlight in 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UFC women\u2019s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko sent a strong message to harsh critics of women\u2019s MMA fights. One&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":393429,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,638,82,640,11037],"class_list":{"0":"post-393428","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-mma","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-ufc","14":"tag-valentina-shevchenko"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393428\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}