UFC icon Valentina Shevchenko poses with all 7 of her flyweight world titles: ‘My belts are with me’
Valentina Shevchenko is inarguably one of the greatest female fighters in the history of mixed martial arts.
Though she may no longer sit atop the women’s flyweight division, ‘Bullet’ is by far and away, the greatest fighter the 125-pound weight class has ever seen. Defending her belt a record-setting seven times, Shevchenko recently posed with all seven of her titles on social media — each representing one of her iconic defenses.
The visual was reminiscent of Demetrious Johnson’s iconic photo with his own collection of UFC gold.
“7 title defense, 7 amazing events alongside the best #UFC MMA fighters of the world,” Shevchenko wrote on Instagram. “Thank you @ufc, Now all my belts with me!!!”
Making her promotional debut in 2015, Valentina Shevchenko worked her way up the bantamweight ladder before making the jump to flyweight where she won nine straight fights, including a title-winning performance against 2024 UFC Hall of Famer Joanna Jędrzejczyk.
She would go on to defend the title against the likes of Jessica Eye, Liz Carmouche, Katlyn Chookagian, Jennifer Maia, Jessica Andrade, Lauren Murphy, and Taila Santos.
Along the way, she etched her name in the history books, claiming a slew of records, including the most title wins, most consecutive title defenses, most takedowns landed, most control time, and the most total strikes landed in women’s flyweight history. She was also named the World MMA Awards’ 2022 Female Fighter of the Year.
Valentina Shevchenko will look to reclaim the crown
Valentina Shevchenko’s time at the top of 125 came to an end on March 4, 2023, when she suffered a shocking fourth-round submission loss at the hands of Guadalajara native Alexa Grasso. Six months later, ‘Bullet’ came up short of reclaiming the crown during the UFC’s Mexican Independence Day celebration, going five rounds with Grasso only for the fight to be scored as a split draw.
The women are expected to run it back a third time later, but first, they’ll go toe-to-toe as coaches of The Ultimate Fighter 32.
Until then, check out highlights from Valentina Shevchenko’s iconic flyweight title reign below:
