MONTREAL – UFC women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko expects Manon Fiorot to put her money where her mouth is.
How so?
Ahead of their UFC 315 headliner on May 10 at Bell Centre, Shevchenko (24-4-1 MMA, 13-3-1 UFC) hasn’t forgotten about Fiorot’s agreement to retire if she loses. What started last November as Fiorot (12-1 MMA, 7-0 UFC) threatening to send Shevchenko into retirement while she waited for their title fight to get book ended with Shevchenko flipping it on Fiorot, making sure she’s also prepared to call it a career.
On Wednesday, Shevchenko made it clear that she’s holding Fiorot to her word.
“She has to respect it,” Shevchenko told MMA Junkie after the UFC 315 on-sale press conference, “because this is what she was putting into the world, her words.”
After months of buildup with salvos fired at each other on social media, Shevchenko and Fiorot were in each other’s presence for the first time Wednesday. Shevchenko, however, didn’t glean much from the press conference given the language barrier. Fiorot, who doesn’t speak English, answered all of her questions in French – and Shevchenko felt her interpreter didn’t do a good enough job.
That’s all right with the champ, who’s squarely focused on the task at hand.
“Now the hard work is in front (of me) for two months, non-stop training, and I feel like the closer faceoffs to the fight will be more intense,” Shevchenko said.
She continued, “She can do whatever she wants. Every time I’m respecting my opponents. I know that fight is fight. It’s a very dangerous situation, doesn’t matter who’s in front of you. Leading to the fight, I have respect for all my opponents. I’m just gonna do everything I have to do to win the fight.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 315.
