Chael Sonnen is questioning the image that Valentina Shevchenko gives off.
Valentina Shevchenko is one of the greatest female mixed martial artists of all time. She has made history in the UFC as the longest-running female flyweight in UFC history. Up until Saturday night, it seemed like she was an unstoppable force. At UFC 285 Shevchenko was defeated for the first time in six years by Alexa Grasso. The loss shocked many as “The Bullet” as she is called was a huge favorite to win. In the wake of her loss, some are pondering what could be next for the former champ.
Chael Sonnen was known as “The Bad Guy” throughout his MMA career and beyond. He thinks that now is the time for Shevchenko to change up her image. He thinks that Shevchenko is not marketable and is blaming this on her and the image she is trying to portray. Sonnen thinks it is time for her to embrace her inner heel.
Chael Sonnen thinks Valentina Shevchenko’s public image does not do her justice
Sonnen was a guest on the Flagrant Podcast on YouTube. He spoke about Shevchenko and the way she is portrayed by fans. He believes that he is giving off the wrong facade. He admitted to not thinking she was marketable and wished she would change up her persona.
“She is quite possibly the greatest talent I’ve ever seen in unarmed combat. She is fantastic. Her skills seem to be equal on the ground as to standing up. She can finish fights anywhere, she can deal with adversity,” he said. “She’s also a co-main event. You can’t make a dollar with the girl, you can’t put her against any, the opponent she’s fighting this weekend, I don’t know who her opponent is. And I’m not attempting to be funny. I simply don’t, you could give me multiple choices, I wouldn’t know. But that’s her fault.”
This podcast was filmed before the loss at UFC 285. He admitted to not knowing who she would be fighting but was complimentary of her fighting style. He feels that Shevchenko could move toward a harsher image and away from the sweet “act” as he called it.
“I watched her on Ariel yesterday and she’s sitting there you know, they call it criss-cross applesauce. And she’s telling some story she’s trying to tell like we’re five-year-olds, and she’s the kindergarten teacher. Like girl, strip your clothes off, you got tattoos, supposedly you speak seven languages,” he said. “There’s a miss there. And I don’t say that to put her down. She’s wildly successful, but why she keeps trying to pretend that she’s a sweet Sally homemaker when she’s not? I think in real life she’s a heel.”
Shevchenko has been very successful inside the cage. Nowadays fighters tend to be more vocal and confrontational outside the cage to gain attention from fans. That does not need to be the case for everyone. Shevchenko began her career with the aura of a no-nonsense tough fighter and that worked for her then. As time went on her skills inside the cage began to do most of the talking and she shied away from the limelight more than before. There is not one way that fighters should act and the originality of different fighters is what makes the UFC so great.
