Valentina Shevchenko

Valentina Anatolyevna Shevchenko (Russian: Валентина Анатольевна Шевченко; born March 7, 1988) is a Kyrgyz and Peruvian professional mixed martial artist, former Muay Thai fighter and kickboxer, with the rare distinction of having won professional championships in all three sports. She currently competes in the women's Flyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where she is a two-time and current UFC Women's Flyweight Champion and the first Kyrgyz fighter to win a UFC championship. As of September 17, 2024, she is #1 in the UFC women's pound-for-pound rankings. She is widely regarded as one of the greatest female mixed martial artists of all time.

Shevchenko was born in Frunze, Kirghiz SSR, Soviet Union on March 7, 1988, to a Russian-Ukrainian family of military servicemen, but she has described herself as being Russian in a Russian interview and her native language is Russian. Her family had Soviet, and later Kyrgyzstan citizenship. Her mother, Elena Shevchenko, is the president of Kyrgyzstan's national Muay Thai association and a former multiple-time Muay Thai champion. Her father, Anatoly Shevchenko, served in the Pacific Fleet of the Soviet Navy for three years during the Cold War, and played for the Kyrgyzstan national football team.

After becoming interested in combat sports at an early age, Valentina began Taekwondo at age five, under the influence of her older sister Antonina and her mother, who both participated in the sport. At age 12 she branched out into Muay Thai kickboxing and then freestyle Vale Tudo. Her kickboxing career began in 2000 when, also at age 12, she knocked out a 22-year-old opponent, earning her the moniker "Bullet" from her trainer Pavel Fedotov because of her speed in the ring. She traveled to Peru with Fedotov and Antonina in 2007, where they became martial arts teachers, and Fedotov eventually relocated his team there permanently. She later gained Peruvian citizenship and is fluent in Russian, English, and Spanish. She also speaks Thai.

Shevchenko earned an undergraduate degree in Film Directing from the National Academy of Arts of the Kyrgyz Republic. In December 2021, the university awarded her the title of an Honored Professor.

In April 2019, she was awarded by Kyrgyz President Sooronbay Jeenbekov with the Dank Order. She was awarded during her first visit to Kyrgyzstan in seven years, during which Jeenbekov praised Shevchenko's role in her profession, saying that she "defended the honour of our Kyrgyzstan". Valentina and Antonina made UFC history by becoming the first pair of sisters to feature on the same fight card at UFC 255.

From 2003 to 2015, Shevchenko collectively won more than 90 amateur/pro matches in K-1, Muay Thai and kickboxing (eight were won by technical knockout, two by knockout). She received her first loss in kickboxing when she fought Debby Urkens (WFCA) in 2008 and her second one against Cong Wang in 2015. Shevchenko won 8 gold medals (2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014) when she competed in the IFMA world championships, as well as the IMFA Royal World Cup in 2015. During these competitions, Shevchenko defeated future UFC Women's Strawweight Champion Joanna Jędrzejczyk three times and future UFC fighter Lina Länsberg once. Shevchenko is considered to be one of the best female Muay Thai fighters in the world.

Shevchenko made her professional debut in mixed martial arts at the age of 15 on April 21, 2003, at Kyrgiz Federation of Kulatuu against fellow debuting fighter Eliza Aidaralieva. She won the fight via TKO in the second round.

Competing in regional Kyrgiz, Russian and Korean promotions she went undefeated in her next 6 fights, winning all of them via a first-round finish, before deciding to take a hiatus from MMA in 2006 to focus on her Muay Thai and kickboxing career.