Valentina Shevchenko came to the defense of ring girls in combat sports.
Former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov recently made headlines when he stated his belief that ring girls were useless in combat sports.
“Look, I don’t want to offend anyone, ring girls are the most useless people in martial arts. What is their purpose? I have a question. You can show that it is the second round on the screen.
“I realize that is a history. History knows many mistakes. We read history to avoid mistakes of the past in the future. If we look in the history, it says they are useless. That is my personal opinion.”
Naturally, “The Eagle” received criticism from many in the combat sports world for his comments with longtime UFC ring girl Arianny Celeste even hitting back at him.
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Shevchenko: Nurmagomedov Comments Were ‘So Bad’
As far as UFC women’s flyweight champion Shevchenko is concerned?
She feels it was “so bad” for Nurmagomedov to make those comments as she believes ring girls are as much a part of combat sports.
“They were since the beginning of the UFC, they were since the beginning of everything,” Shevchenko told James Lynch in a recent interview. “And to say they don’t belong to martial arts, it’s so bad. It’s so not right because they are part. And it’s kind of like, without all of this, any fighter would not be in the position of where he is right now. If there wouldn’t be ring girls, there wouldn’t be lights, fans, sounds. It’s just boring, it’s just boring to see.
“But all these little details, they fulfill the full picture. That’s why there is no discussion — ring girls are part of the biggest promotions, smallest promotions of anything.”
That said, it is highly unlikely Nurmagomedov changes his mind anytime soon.
You can watch the clip below:
