Camp Update: 20 years has built bond between Shevchenko and Fedotov

After decades spent coaching martial arts, Pavel Fedotov needs to be as no nonsense as he can be. His job isn’t something to be taken lightly, and people can get hurt, so the more blunt he can be, the better it is for his fighters.

So when talking about one of those fighters, Valentina Shevchenko, before the biggest fight of her career on Saturday against Amanda Nunes, Fedotov isn’t about to say that the moment young Valentina walked into his gym he knew she had championship potential.

“When her mom brought Valentina in my gym, I had many adult students who already were part of the national team,” he said. “That’s why I didn’t pay much attention to her. They were children who saw training…