Valentina Shevchenko has revealed the distinctive coaching camp she underwent main into this weekend’s championship bout towards Alexa Grasso at UFC 285 in Las Vegas on Sunday.
The UFC Women’s Flyweight Champion determined to maneuver her coaching camp from Thailand over to Japan after having an virtually religious calling.
Discover out extra about Shevchenko’s distinctive journey within the video interview above.
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It’s a transfer hardly ever accomplished by non-Japanese fighters, however the 34-year-old stated she felt drawn to the nation after turning into entranced by the tradition from a younger age of coaching in several types of Japanese martial arts.
“Japan was all the time on my record of the nations that I needed to go to due to their cultural traditions, and due to the sturdy tradition of combined martial arts basically,” the flyweight champion informed 7NEWS.com.au
“Once I was rising up in Kyrgyzstan, my coach made me compete in numerous Japanese fight sports activities.
“For instance, I competed in judo, I competed in numerous types of karate, Shitō-ryū, Kyokushin, Kyokushin Kaikan, Aikido Shodokan, so I all the time needed to see this nation from the within.”
For her stint in Japan, the 34-year-old skilled out of Paraestra Gymnasium in Tokyo, the place she obtained in some high quality coaching with excessive degree Japanese fighters whereas immersing herself within the tradition.
“I skilled over there for a few month, it felt so good to coach in Japan,” the Kyrgyz fighter stated.
“It was a tremendous journey. I used to be in a position to see the way in which they practice, the custom, the tradition, the meals tradition, how they deal with one another.”
Shevchenko’s martial arts pilgrimage to Japan for this camp was topped off by getting to observe and spend time with sumo wrestlers.
Shevchenko stated the Japanese fashion of wrestling fascinated her and the way in which they breathed the game was a really humbling expertise.
“It was unimaginable, they’ve a really sturdy tradition, which I like,” Shevchenko stated.
“I used to be in a position to see sumo wrestling from the within. What we all know is what we see on TV, which is them competing, however we do not know a lot about how they stay, and the way they assume.
“I used to be in a position to go to their trainings, and after I obtained to have lunch with them of their home.
“They stay in these three-story buildings – the primary flooring is for coaching, the second flooring is their dormitories and their third flooring is the place they prepare dinner and the place they spend their free time – it was superb.”
The flyweight champion even joked that we might even see newly discovered sumo strikes within the UFC Octagon this weekend throughout her battle.
When requested if she could be utilizing any methods she discovered from the Sumo expertise, she stated jokingly: “It is arduous to say as a result of it is such a unique approach. I might be higher off staying with my MMA sport plan.”
“I received that battle”
Shevchenko is not wanting previous her battle this weekend towards the robust Mexican fighter Alexa Grasso of their flyweight championship bout on Sunday within the UFC 285 co-main occasion.
However the champion says a future battle along with her former foe Amanda Nunes might be on the playing cards within the close to future.
Shevchenko has been defeated twice by Nunes who’s the present bantamweight and in addition featherweight girls’s champion.
The newest loss was in 2017 when a razor cut up determination went to Nunes, a bout which the flyweight champion believes she received.
Shevchenko is adamant, if she fought her once more now as the present flyweight champion, the conclusion would have been totally different.
“I feel the final battle we fought, I feel I received that battle. And if it will be like champion towards champion, it will have an effect on the judges determination in a different way,” the Kyrgyzstani fighter stated.
“However at that second in 2017, it was challenger towards champion, in order that they determined in a different way. I rewatch that battle and I feel I received it.
“I’ll do every thing I must do to get that third trilogy battle.”
The 34-year-old flyweight champion says going up a weight division to face individuals like Amanda Nunes is important for solidifying her legacy.
“Something a fighter can do to stay within the historical past of combined martial arts, I feel it is essential to meet.”
