Battle of the sexes: why UFC champion from the USA Henry Sehudo challenged Valentina Shevchenko

Last weekend, the first ever UFC tournament was held in Uruguay. His main event was the second fight of Valentina Shevchenko as the champion in flyweight. The athlete from Kyrgyzstan won the unanimous decision of the judges Liz Karmush and retained the title, confirming at the same time the status of one of the main stars of mixed martial arts.

Another famous MMA fighter, Henry Sehudo, could not get past Shevchenko’s success. The holder of two champion belts in the lightest men's weight categories challenged Shevchenko to a duel to play with her the title of “inter-gender world champion”.

“So, I enjoy a wonderful Sunday in the beautiful city of Las Vegas, and my phone is popping about a certain Valentina Shevchenko, nicknamed“ Bullet ”, saying she is the most successful champion on the planet. And you know what? I’m somehow envious. She has gold. I want this gold! Valentina Shevchenko, I have something to tell you. I intend to become the first inter-gender champion in the world. I challenge you. Maybe you're the next one to kneel before the Triple Champion, ”he said on Twitter.

The following is a public service announcement for the supposed flyweight queen Valentina Shevchenko. Signed, Triple C and soon to be The IGC. #bendtheknee@BulletValentinapic.twitter.com/kUQbCnmIWd

Sehudo in the past has already hinted that he would not mind fighting with another famous fighter girl Amanda Nunes from Brazil, who, like him, owns two UFC belts at once. But then in his words there was no specificity.

“I do not need the status of the best UFC fighter of all time. I, in my opinion, are the greatest wrestler of all time. Of course, I would like to compete for the third belt. It would be great to meet the winner of the match Frankie Edgar - Max Holloway. But in particular, I would like to fight it with Edgar. In general, I am ready to go against any fighter weighing from 45 to 68 kg. If Amanda Nunes is also burning with the desire to "receive", then please. I also challenge Valentina. I do not take prisoners! I am a gold hunter. Nunes has gold. So, I want to get her gold too, ”Sehudo admitted in an interview with TMZ a month ago.

Sports show business is constantly looking for new competition formats to attract the attention of fans and collect as much profit as possible from the audience. Since Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweiser fought in a boxing match, a new world has opened up before mixed martial arts, in which old conventions and principles could be forgotten. True, other similar performances were no longer arranged, but athletes and promoters continue to put forward new crazy ideas for attracting the public to stadiums.

The duel between Sehudo and Shevchenko just fits into this trend. Women's mixed martial arts in recent years have undergone rapid development and are beginning to gradually oppress men. At least this can be judged by the number of followers on Instagram - Sehudo has two times less than Nunes, and three times less than Shevchenko. Sooner or later, these two camps, men and women, should have collided, as at the time this happened with MMA and professional boxing.

A possible battle between Sehudo and Shevchenko is ideal in terms of the distribution of roles. The American has long established himself as a "bad guy" who, at the first opportunity, launches thrash current, is overly proud of his achievements and challenges everyone in a row. At the same time, the athlete from Kyrgyzstan will be provided with the sympathy of the public, since during her career she did not have time to tarnish her name in any major scandal and won a certain authority in martial arts.

Sehudo already managed to get a portion of criticism for his intention to meet with the girls in the octagon. Former athlete Damien Brown called the American's words “a tasteless joke.” Another ex-fighter Michael Bisping said that in a duel Sehudo with Nunes will put money on the Brazilian. Journalist Trent Rainsmith suggested that next time the Triple Champion would challenge a ten-year-old judoka to battle. The fighter Jose Torres reacted by publishing a video in which a little girl hits a boy and said that this would be the future duel between Sehudo and Shevchenko.

I'm not a fortune teller, but I think I just found future film of Cejudo vs Shevchenko for the Intergender world championship! 😂 # InterGenderChampionship # KingOfCringe # VS # TheBullet # Title We Can, We Will, Together, We Are, # TeamShortypic.twitter.com / nRI0suNCg3

Although a possible fight for the title of “inter-gender world champion” can be speculated for a long time, its real organization rests against several obstacles. First, Sehudo performs in lightweight and four kilograms heavier than Shevchenko. For a duel to be held on an equal footing, it is not enough for them to perform in one category - a girl is better to have more weight. From this point of view, Sehudo would be more logical to meet with Nunes. She has already defeated all the main contenders, for which UFC fighter Max Griffin advised her recently to start fighting with men.

Secondly, the organization of the battle may well not be approved by the athletic commission of any American state in which the match will take place. More than once there were cases when sports officials at the last moment canceled any fight, noticing one of the opponents suspected of injury and, accordingly, a serious threat to his health. In addition, the commission may veto for ethical reasons.

So, Sehudo’s words about the desire to fight with women are still better perceived as an attempt to remain on hearing at the expense of more popular athletes. Now the fighter is recovering from surgery on his shoulder and is trying to maintain interest in his person by any means. Sehudo will not return to the octagon at least until next year. At the moment, he is definitely not a rival to any girl-fighter.