UFC Women’s Flyweight Champion Valentina Shevchenko has hit back at Khabib Nurmagomedov’s comments regarding women in combat sports.
Nurmagomedov had said that he would not recommend entering the fight game as a lady, going further to say that a lady is weaker than a person while also referencing traditional gender roles and his belief that men should do men’s work and girls accordingly.
Naturally, the comments provoked discourse amongst fans and professionals within the MMA space. And considered one of those names to deal with his comments was Shevchenko via X. She drew on the “Night Witches,” the Soviet Union’s all-female 588th Night Bomber Regiment that flew missions at night from slow and outdated plywood biplanes, for instance of female strength and bravado.
“Women are weak?! Tell that to my sister – an airline captain. Or tell it to the “Night Witches” the all-female bomber regiment of World War II, who dropped bombs under the duvet of darkness with their engines off, then landed in pitch blackness without landing lights. For this, they earned a fame for being elusive and deadly. Go ahead, tell them who’s stronger. All of it depends entirely on one’s upbringing. You may just as easily raise a person to be a helpless milksop who’s incapable of doing anything. Martial arts represent a warrior tradition where there is no such thing as a distinction between man and woman. There is barely the art itself. That’s precisely why people train: to change into more graceful, stronger, and wiser – and to make sure that nobody ever gets the possibility to punch them within the face,” Shevchenko wrote.
Women are weak?!
Tell that to my sister—an airline captain. Or tell it to the “Night Witches” the all-female bomber regiment of World War II, who dropped bombs under the duvet of darkness with their engines off, then landed in pitch blackness without landing lights.For this,… https://t.co/ju36qA1nY5— Valentina The Bullet Shevchenko (@BulletValentina) March 28, 2026
Shevchenko is in her second reign as Flyweight Champion having first defeated Joanna Jedrzejczyk for it while vacant in 2018. Alexa Grasso dethroned her eighth defense in 2023, with the rematch later that 12 months ending in a draw. She recaptured the title from Grasso in 2024 and has since gone on to defend the title twice.