Valentina Shevchenko: The Greatest Female Fighter of All Time?

twWhen the term ‘G.O.A.T’ is defined, it often refers to those exceptional athletes, musicians, or public figures who’re the greatest in their field of work. In the world of mixed martial arts, names such as George Saint Pierre, Jon Jones, Khabib Nurmagomedov, and Anderson Silva are often thrown into the discussion. The arguments surrounding a G.O.A.T status aren’t usually settled in sports until decades later, once a clear vision of an athlete’s achievements and accolades can be compared.

In modern-day MMA, women of the sport are relatively fresh to the G.O.A.T discussion, but if one name is going to live on throughout the history books as the greatest female fighter of all time, erasing Valentina Shevchenko’s name from that title could prove difficult.

Valentina Shevchenko: Her Claim to G.O.A.T Status

Valentina Anatolievna Shevchenko, born March 7, 1988, in Frunze, Kirghizia, USSR. She is accompanying her achievements in the world’s most elite martial arts promotion, the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship), with a lifelong body of work within the arts; this can be accredited to her mother, Elena Shevchenko, who is a former multiple-time Muay Thai champion and the current president of Kyrgyzstan’s national Muay Thai association.

Valentina has embodied various forms of martial arts since the age of 5, including Taekwondo, Muay Thai kickboxing, freestyle Vale Tudo, Boxing, Judo, and Jiu-Jitsu.

In Russia and former Soviet republics, documents are provided to physical sports athletes in order to separate classifications; to understand the elite level of fighting required to earn the ‘Master of Sport’ title, there are nine categories before reaching this pinnacle of Russian combat sport. Valentina owns this elite accreditation in Taekwondo, Muay Thai, Boxing, and Judo – genuinely incredible, and these valuable skillsets become evident when she’s in the octagon.

The achievements obtained by Valentina in Kickboxing and Muay Thai began decades before her mixed martial arts career; a professional record of 59-2 in Kickboxing and Muay Thai cannot be replicated by any average MMA professional.

Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Valentina Shevchenko in 2007 after one of their three previous contests. Valentina has a 3-0 record over Joanna in Muay Thai.

The echoes of Cris Cyborg and Amanda Nunes fanatics are already haunting my direct messages, as I’d assume their response to my above statement would be “So?” or “What’s your point?”.

G.O.A.T statuses of the future shouldn’t strictly be characterized on the success in their body of work performed in the UFC and other promotions. I believe a combination of aspects should dictate greatness. Valentina has been a complete martial artist for twenty-eight of her thirty-three years on this earth whilst providing a minute amount of room for error; she personifies MMA.

Sporting debates will forever provide countless arguments with opposing debates. Ali or Sugar Ray Robinson? Jordan or LeBron? Messi or Ronaldo? Pele or Maradona? While some sporting athletes gave sports fans little room to debate, like Tiger Woods and Babe Ruth, however, the world of mixed martial arts is a different ball game.

In Steps Amanda Nunes

Muhammad Ali wasn’t necessarily the most outstanding statistician or record holder in boxing, yet he’s still regarded as the G.O.A.T.

Why? Well, I believe a handful of factors entered this debate, such as the level of competition he faced, his in-ring activity, his style, toughness, and the out-of-the-ring persona he owned. Again, championships and numbers can’t solidify G.O.A.T status; numerous factors enter this discussion and looking at the bigger picture is imperative.

For Amanda Nunes, there’s no denying her greatness; fans flock to Heritage Sports with their bets when Nunes is scheduled. A two-division champion (UFC), a knockout victory over Cris Cyborg (who hadn’t been defeated since her professional debut in 2005), and a plethora of success inside the octagon. And, of course, two wins over Valentina on paper.

Now, without diving into deep analysis, I think the second five-round contest between Nunes and Valentina could’ve been handed to either fighter on the judges’ scorecard, and arguments would’ve still taken place. It was an extremely close contest, where Nunes owned a 20lb weight advantage.

And this could be the deal-breaker for some; Nunes is significantly larger than Shevchenko and defeats her in all physical attributes.

The first contest was also an interesting bout. Should that fight have been a five-rounder instead of three, from evaluating the third round, it wasn’t looking positive for the Brazilian as Shevchenko dominated a fatigued Nunes.

Either way, Shevchenko lost the two encounters versus Nunes, and she accepted that before going on to dominate every other opponent in her path inside the UFC’s flyweight division.

Within the next five years, I envision a retired Amanda Nunes while Shevchenko continues to build her legacy. In my opinion, we have a brawling style fighter with some elite technical boxing and Jiu-Jitsu abilities in Nunes versus a technically sound all-around martial artist in Shevchenko.

Yes, a third fight is necessary, in my opinion, and will it settle the G.O.A.T debate? Certainly not! But I believe that Shevchenko and Nunes are untouchable in their respective divisions, and a third encounter wouldn’t play out in Nunes’ favour.

I know it’s difficult, especially when one fighter weighs 125lbs on the scale and the other weighs 145lbs on the scale. Still, I’ll stick with my gut instinct that Valentina Shevchenko’s legacy will have outweighed the accomplishments of Amanda Nunes in ten or so years.

The future female G.O.A.T of mixed martial arts is only getting started, throw a rose and take your bow, Valentina Shevchenko.