“To say they don’t belong to martial arts, it’s so bad” – Valentina Shevchenko on Khabib Nurmagomedov’s recent comments on ring girls


“To say they don’t belong to martial arts, it’s so bad” – Valentina Shevchenko on Khabib Nurmagomedov’s recent comments on ring girls

Valentina Shevchenko (top left), Khabib Nurmagomedov (bottom left) and ring girl Arianny Celeste

UFC women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko believes ring girls should definitely be a part of mixed martial arts. Her comments have come in the wake of Khabib Nurmagomedov claiming that the ring girls had nothing to do with the sport of MMA.

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In a media interaction with RT Sport, a month ago, Khabib said, “I don’t think we should put together those things. It’s my personal opinion. We are here to develop the sport…Please don’t you ever think I have anything against women. Men and women are created for each other…Everything has its own place…There are some limits to everything, that we do, we show, we speak. There should always be some limits. And for me ring girls have nothing to do with MMA.”

Following ‘The Eagle’s comments, Valentina Shevchenko spoke to MMA reporter James Lynch about the same. She claimed that it was totally wrong of Khabib to state that the ring girls had nothing to do with MMA. She felt that it was the little details like the Octagon girls that fulfil the ‘MMA Picture.’

“Ring girls are definitely a part of this” – Valentina Shevchenko

Shevchenko was quoted as saying, “Ring girls are definitely a part of this. They were since the beginning of the UFC, they were since the beginning of everything. And to say they don’t belong to martial arts, it’s so bad. It’s so not right because they are part. And it’s kind of like, without all of this, any fighter would not be in the position, where he is right now.”

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She continued, “If there wouldn’t be ring girls, there wouldn’t be lights, fans, sounds. It’s just boring, it’s just boring to see such things. But all these little details, fulfil the full picture. That’s why there is no discussion — ring girls, they are part of the biggest promotions, smallest promotions of anything. No further question.”

Shevchenko is gearing up for her title defense against Lauren Murphy in the co-main event of UFC 266 which is set to take place on the 25th of September, 2021. This will be her 6th title-defense match, after having defended it a staggering 5 times already. She is coming off a TKO win over Jessica Andrade at UFC 261.

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