Valentina Shevchenko reacts to ‘disrespect’ from Manon Fiorot ahead of UFC 315

Valentina Shevchenko might be looking to prove a point this weekend.

This Saturday, Shevchenko defends her flyweight title against Manon Fiorot in the co-main event of UFC 315, and while “Bullet” is always careful to respect her opponents, she seems to have some issues with Fiorot,

“I don’t think that it’s appropriate to compare myself to her, because I never will approach to any of my opponents so much disrespect that she did,” Shevchenko told reporters at UFC 315 Media Day.

Shevchenko’s issue with Fiorot appears to date back to last year when “The Beast” called her out and said she was going to retire “Bullet,” shortly after Shevchenko had just reclaimed the flyweight title from Alexa Grasso at UFC 306. It was a bit of unexpected trash talk from the normally quiet Fiorot, something Shevchenko puts down to Fiorot feeling her position in line might be in jeopardy.

“She started to throw this Tweet a little bit too soon, in my opinion, because I just fought,” Shevchenko said. “It was one month after the fight. But I understand, she was desperate. She had a little bit [of a delay]. But I think everything, at the end, worked perfectly.”

For Shevchenko, Fiorot’s unexpected trash talk is more likely to bother Fiorot than impact her.

“Nothing,” Shevchenko said when asked if Fiorot’s talk bothered her. “My experience in martial arts, it’s so many years. I started when I was five and all these years before joining UFC I already was 17-time world champion in Muay Thai, in MMA, in kickboxing. So imagine how many different characters I was able to meet and how many words they could say. If everything would bother me, I never would achieve what I achieved. I think it’s my biggest ability to block all the energy that’s happening around and focus on your main goal.”

But that being said, “Bullet” couldn’t help but acknowledge that once the cage door closes on Saturday and Fiorot has to back up her talk, Shevchenko is going to enjoy humbling her.

“I like this, when people go in with so much confidence,” Shevchenko said. “They say, ‘It’s going to be a finish,’ something like that. But I like this moment when they feel frustration in the ring, inside of the octagon, when they feel that any plan that they had, it doesn’t work. This is the best feeling, to see them breaking up.”

UFC 315 takes place on Saturday, May 10, at Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, and is headlined by a welterweight title fight between Belal Muhammad and Jack Della Maddalena.