UFC Women’s Flyweight Champion Valentina Shevchenko has hit back at Khabib Nurmagomedov’s comments regarding women in combat sports.
Nurmagomedov had said that he wouldn’t recommend entering the fight game as a woman, going further to say that a woman is weaker than a man while also referencing traditional gender roles and his belief that men should do men’s work and women accordingly.
Naturally, the comments provoked discourse among fans and professionals in the MMA space. And one of those names to address his comments was Shevchenko via X. She drew on the “Night Witches,” the Soviet Union’s all-female 588th Night Bomber Regiment that flew missions at night from slow and outdated plywood biplanes, as an example of female strength and bravery.
“Women are weak?! Tell that to my sister – an airline captain. 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. 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. Martial arts represent a warrior tradition where there is no distinction between man and woman. There is only the art itself. 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,” Shevchenko wrote.
Women are weak?!
Tell that to my sister—an airline captain. 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,… https://t.co/ju36qA1nY5— Valentina The Bullet Shevchenko (@BulletValentina) March 28, 2026
Shevchenko is in her second reign as Flyweight Champion having first defeated Joanna Jedrzejczyk for it while vacant in 2018. Alexa Grasso dethroned her eighth defense in 2023, with the rematch later that year ending in a draw. She recaptured the title from Grasso in 2024 and has since gone on to defend the title twice.
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