Valentina Shevchenko has responded to fans’ criticism of her and Alexa Grasso being set to coach on Season 32 of The Ultimate Fighter.
Shevchenko and Grasso have built quite the budding rivalry, with Grasso causing one of the biggest title fight upsets in history back in March last year, when she submitted ‘Bullet’, winning the 125lb title.
The two then rematched on Mexican Independence Day where they fought to a split draw. Heading into the final round, the Krygz native was one round ahead on two of the scorecards, but Mike Bell scored round five a 10-8 for the defending champion, resulting in the draw.
The two women are set to settle their rivalry with a trilogy fight, but before that, they will coach a group of fighters who are looking to begin their UFC careers.
The announcement came with some criticism from the fans, as a large majority aren’t very excited for this fight to be the culmination of the series. As well as that, there is a collective consensus that this fight further holds up the 125lb women’s division.
Erin Blanchfield and Manon Fiorot are set to fight in a number-one contender fight at the end of March, but the TUF announcement leaves the possibility that the winner of that fight, won’t fight again this year.
Valentina Shevchenko responds to fans’ hate of TUF announcement
The two flyweights did their first bit of media on Tuesday, ahead of their roles as coaches. Shevchenko and Grasso are set to coach men’s featherweight and middleweight weight classes, which has also drawn some criticism from archaic fans of the sport.
Responding to the ‘hate’ at media day, the former champion said: “Some fans are not focussing on seeing things, they have this cliche that it’s coming from the very past and they cannot get rid of that.” Shevchenko said.
The 36-year-old also added that it doesn’t matter that they are coaching male fighters, as they always train with male fighters at the elite level anyway.
“If they are speaking about high-level competition I don’t think it’s something weird, because when I train, I train only with men, it’s specifically with men. In training we are all training partners, we are not men and women (separate).
“We are in a new era we are in new modern days and it’s different now, it’s different than it was 10 years ago or even 20 years ago. They’re still bringing that (thought) from years ago and this isn’t right, they have to change their mindset.
“So many people don’t care about anything, they just want to bring hate, they hate everyone, and this hate it’s inside of their hearts and this is wrong.” she explained.
The Ultimate Fighter as a product has lost a lot of appeal over the years, with last season’s coaches, Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler yet to even fight.
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