At 37, UFC women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko was already on the short list of the greatest female fighters in MMA history.
On Saturday, as a betting underdog in the co-main event of UFC 315 in Montreal, Shevchenko (25-4-1) only added to her growing legend by making the first defense of her second title reign at 125 pounds in a close and tense unanimous decision over red-hot French striker Manon Fiorot (12-2).
Shevchenko took home identical scores of 48-47 on all three cards inside Bell Centre as the native of Kyrgyzstan extended her UFC record for victories by a female in title bouts to 10 in her eighth overall title defense.
“I was expecting a very hard fight because Manon is a hard opponent and a good striker but everything that I worked on in terms of getting ready for the fight, I was able to do,” Shevchenko said.
After the opening round, it appeared as if Shevchenko was on her way to a quick and easy victory after Fiorot, 35, had no answer for the quick right-hand counters of the southpaw champion, who bloodied Fiorot’s nose and had her looking defeated.
To her credit, however, Fiorot battled back to claim the next two rounds by slowing down the action and using a…
