Valentina Shevchenko gave a direct response after former UFC lightweight champion and Hall of Famer Khabib Nurmagomedov, who is now retired after an undefeated run in the UFC and MMA, again spoke about men and women having different roles and described women as weaker than men at a recent press conference.
Nurmagomedov said, “Every person in life has a mission. For a man, it’s to raise children, take care of the family, take care of loved ones, neighbors, relatives. There are very few women who take on big responsibilities; it’s very hard for them. It’s not without reason. Even God created it that way: a woman is weaker, a man is stronger. People want to change all this and mix it. I like it when a man does manly things and a woman does womanly things.”
Khabib Nurmagomedov explains why he’s not a fan of women competing in MMA:
“Every person in life has a mission. For a man, it’s to raise children, take care of the family, take care of loved ones.
There are very few women who take on big responsibilities. It’s very hard for… pic.twitter.com/9r4uRw6dOr
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) March 26, 2026
Shevchenko answered on her Instagram Stories and made her position clear immediately.
She wrote, “Women are weak?! Tell that to my sister-an airline captain.”
She then expanded the point by bringing up the Night Witches, the all-female bomber regiment from World War II. She wrote:
“Or tell it to the ‘Night Witches’ the all-female bomber regiment of World War II, who dropped bombs under the cover of darkness with their engines off, then landed in pitch blackness without landing lights. For this, they earned a reputation for being elusive and deadly. Go ahead, tell them who is stronger.”
Valentina Shevchenko reacts to Khabib’s comments regarding women pic.twitter.com/TQwtzmp5Z4
— Dovy🔌 (@DovySimuMMA) March 28, 2026
Valentina Shevchenko says martial arts make no distinction between man and woman
Shevchenko also rejected the idea that capability comes down to gender. She wrote:
“It all depends entirely on one’s upbringing. you can just as easily raise a man to be a helpless milksop who is incapable of doing anything.”
Then she brought it back to martial arts itself, writing:
“Martial arts represent a warrior tradition where there is no distinction between man and woman. There is only the Art itself.”
Shevchenko has already shown she is willing to push back publicly when she thinks a line has been crossed, and this was another example of that.
She closed with one more line that summed up her response.
She wrote, “That is precisely why people train: to become more graceful, stronger, and wiser-and to ensure that no one ever gets the chance to punch them in the face.”
This one was not a long rant. It was a clean rejection of Khabib’s view, and it came from someone with more than enough pedigree to make it land. Shevchenko remains one of the most respected voices in women’s MMA, which only made the response hit harder.
