Valentina Shevchenko questions Manon Fiorot’s respect in martial arts: “I guess it’s teaching everyone except her”

Valentina Shevchenko has not entered the octagon since last August when she defeated Alexa Grasso via unanimous decision to recapture the women's flyweight title at UFC 306. 'Bullet' will look to defend her belt for the eighth time overall - and the first time of her second title reign - when she faces Manon Fiorot at UFC 315 in May.

She recently questioned her upcoming opponent's respect in mixed martial arts. Speaking on The Ariel Helwani Show, Shevchenko stated:

"Throwing these dirty tweets, if she's really thinking it's going to provoke someone for the actions, I think she's mistaken. She's claiming to be a karate person about all the respect, but acting like a savate person. It's funny. It's silly. I would understand when a person already did something - defend belts, being a champion - but without doing a thing, starting to go around and insult everyone, it's now how these things work."

Shevchenko added:

"Maybe she wanted some attention or maybe someone gave advice to her, some bright mind decided to come up with this strategy, but I don't think that is a smart thing. Me, especially, being a martial artist all my life - martial arts, it's all about respect. In general, our life, it's all about respect... Karate being martial arts with a huge story teaching all of these things, but I guess it's teaching everyone except Manon, except their gym."

Check out Valentina Shevchenko's comments on Manon Fiorot below:

Fiorot took to X to claim that she will retire Shevchenko, accusing the women's flyweight champion of delaying signing a contract. The No.2-ranked women's flyweight has won 12 consecutive bouts since losing her professional mixed martial arts debut.

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Valentina Shevchenko is willing to face Zhang Weili next

Zhang Weili expressed interest in facing Valentina Shevchenko in the immediate aftermath of her UFC 312 victory over Tatiana Suarez, which marked her fourth overall defense of her women's strawweight title. 'Bullet' revealed that she is open to the matchup during her recent appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show, stating:

"I knew that I was going to defend my belt against Manon [Fiorot]. When Weili called me out, I thought it might be a slight change, but when UFC reached out with the final agreement for the fight, it was the same idea that we had before all this happened. Weili, she's a great fighter and she's showed that she can be successful for many years... I think it would be an amazing fight. I think it would be something that fans would love to see."

Check out Valentina Shevchenko's comments on Zhang Weili below:

Shevchenko added that she remains focused on Fiorot and hasn't given much thought to other potential opponents. She noted that she hasn't heard anything from the UFC regarding a potential matchup with Weili. However, she believes that it would be significant for women's mixed martial arts.