Octo-bling! Shevchenko makes historical past with full set of 8 rubies in her belt

Valentina Shevchenko has simply made historical past once more as the primary UFC champion to replenish a whole plate with ruby slots on their championship belt.

The UFC debuted their new ‘UFC Legacy Championship Belt’ again in January 2019 and along with a design overhaul, the brand new strap included two octagon-shaped plates on both sides of the primary facade. Every plate incorporates 8 white gems that are changed by rubies because the champ racks up title victories.

Together with her win over Alexa Grasso at UFC 306 final month, Shevchenko has now received 8 title fights, fully filling her first plate with rubies. “Bullet” confirmed off the spectacular outcomes on Instagram … have a look under!

“Laborious to specific the emotions of the picture of my UFC Champions plate just a few moments in the past,” Shevchenko wrote. “All eight rubies — every a testomony to sweat, wrestle, and triumph. For me that is greater than achievement; it’s the spirit of the true martial arts alive and roaring inside me.”

“Can’t wait to lastly contact and have the respect to put on the plate with the belt!”

Shevchenko received the vacant UFC ladies’s flyweight title in a battle towards Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 231 in 2018, incomes herself one of many final original-style UFC belts. She obtained a brand new Legacy belt at UFC 238 with a headkick KO win over Jessica Eye. From there she earned rubies towards Liz Carmouche, Katlyn Chookagian, Jennifer Maia, Jessica Andrade, Lauren Murphy, and Talia Santos earlier than dropping her first battle in 4 and a half years to Alexa Grasso.

A questionable draw with Grasso adopted, after which Shevchenko recaptured her belt to grow to be a two-time UFC champion in September 2024. Eight title battle wins, eight rubies.

For now, it appears like Shevchenko is content material to remain at 125 kilos to maintain defending her belt, and why not with new names like Manon Fiorot and Rose Namajunas within the wings to problem her. And possibly one other battle with Grasso? Far, far sooner or later?

“I’m not discarding any alternatives,” she advised Bodog Canada relating to one other transfer as much as 135 kilos. “I’m not saying one thing like, ‘No!’ However yeah, once I recuperate from the final battle and we return and see my group, my supervisor, we are going to make the choice.”

“In all probability for me to go as much as bantamweight, it must cross a while to construct up again my muscle tissue. Spending so lengthy at flyweight, I type of get smaller. But when I determine to maneuver up, it needs to be proper.”

For now, the appropriate place is ladies’s flyweight, the place Valentina has already handed Jedrzejcyk (5) and Ronda Rousey (6) for most ladies’s title defenses (7) and is now approaching all-time greats like Amanda Nunes (11) and Anderson Silva (11) in title battle wins (9).