Valentina Shevchenko wants Manon Fiorot to forget pre-UFC 315 bet about retirement: "Don’t follow your words"
Valentina Shevchenko recently opened up about her retirement bet with Manon Fiorot before their title fight at UFC 315. Shevchenko, who prevailed over Fiorot, doesn't want the French fighter to hang up her gloves after UFC 315.
For context, after Shevchenko became a two-time women's flyweight champion by defeating Alexa Grasso in their trilogy matchup at Noche UFC 306 last year, Fiorot called out the 37-year-old on social media and voiced her confidence in dethroning Shevchenko, prompting her retirement.
Fiorot's callout was quickly accepted by Shevchenko, who insisted that whoever lost between them had to retire. The two eventually clashed in the co-main event of UFC 315 this past weekend. After a hard-fought five rounds, Shevchenko was declared the winner via unanimous decision.
During the post-fight press conference, Shevchenko discussed her retirement bet, urging Fiorot to continue fighting as it was all a build-up to their much-awaited contest. She said:
“To be very clear, before the fight Manon [suggested] that if she won, I retire. I responded to her, if I won, she retires. So I completely don’t want her to retire. This is what I really don’t want her to follow her words because I feel it’s unfair for the fighter because someone put [the words] in her mouth to promote the fight or something like that and now she feels she has to retire? No, don’t follow your words, please stay fighting.”
Check out Valentina Shevchenko's comments below (10:53):
Notably, Shevchenko became the oldest UFC fighter [male or female] to successfully defend a belt below the middleweight division following her win over Fiorot.
Valentina Shevchenko discusses her octagon future
Valentina Shevchenko's successful title defense at UFC 315 sparked reactions from many, including reigning women's strawweight champion Zhang Weili, who voiced her desire to take on Shevchenko next, in order to become a two-division champion.
Meanwhile, emerging flyweight contender Natalia Silva also prevailed over former champion Alexa Grasso at UFC 315 and is eyeing title contention next.
During the aforementioned press conference, Shevchenko claimed that her fans will choose between Weili and Silva for her next title defense, saying:
''Before coming to here, everyone was saying Weili or Natalia [Silva] as in a contender. So yeah, I don't know. Maybe fans can play some role in that. If they can like join my OnlyF*ns page and drop some messages on who they want to see me fight next. We will compare who's next."
Check out Valentina Shevchenko's comments below: