Valentina Shevchenko believes she’s living in the best possible time to be a martial artist.
When the UFC first came on the scene in 1993, athletes were often characterized by their specific skills. For some, it was Sumo. For others, it was boxing, combat sambo, or jiu-jitsu. Hell, even legendary brawler David ‘Tank’ Abbott described his style as pitfighting while competing inside the Octagon.
But today, MMA encompasses all of those styles, to some extent, and Shevchenko thinks that’s pretty damn cool.
“You know, we’re now living a dream of some great persons, great athletes, who were dreaming about a universal martial artist—that would be, like, contain all techniques, and the fighter would be so universal and would not have any problem to use any technique they want,” Shevchenko said during Wednesday’s UFC 322 media day in New York.