Valentina Shevchenko’s 2021 was pretty standard – at least for her.
At this point for Shevchenko, the UFC’s women’s flyweight champion, a normal calendar year is two dominant title defenses. This year, she stopped Jessica Andrade with a second-round TKO at UFC 261 in April. And in September, she put away Lauren Murphy with a fourth-round TKO.
Shevchenko (22-3 MMA, 11-2 UFC) has fought twice a year from 2015-2021, but her most recent seven appearances all have been title fights, including six straight defenses.
As if her 2021 wasn’t good enough already, she also made her major motion picture debut opposite Academy Award winner Halle Berry in “Bruised,” which Berry also directed – and though a long shot, Berry again finds herself in the conversation for an Oscar nomination for her performance.
Shevchenko, like she has been every year since becoming champion, is in her own conversation among the pundits. But hers is for the MMA Female Fighter of the Year. With the 2021 calendar year in the books, the UFC recently took a look back at Shevchenko’s title reign – and it starts with a major bang.
Check out the highlights of Shevchenko’s title defenses in the video above.
Video: Valentina Shevchenko’s long reign of UFC title defenses started with a major bang