Antonina Shevchenko Is Ready to Start Climb to The Top of UFC’s Flyweight Division

Following her win at the TUF 28 finale, Antonina Shevchenko (7-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) spoke with MMA Junkie about her future goals with the UFC…

On wanting to dominate flyweight: “That’s my goal: to make (it to the top) as fast as I can – to climb to the top of the division next year,” Antonina told MMAjunkie after her win over Kim. “I’ll be working very hard to make it happen, and Valentina will be working very hard to be UFC champion since I’ll climb into the top of the division. From my side, I’ll be working, working, working because I feel motivated. With this victory, there’s just more motivation for me.”

On taking the fight after her opponent missed weight: “Your mentality – you’ve worked so hard for the fight, every day you wake up with this notion that I have to prepare for this fight, and you’re living in it,” Shevchenko said. “When you’re facing this situation, you just accept the fight like, ‘Whatever happens, let’s do it. You missed the weight, you’ll be heavier than me – but let’s do it.’” “I just accepted the fight – the fighter mentality, you’re already there. You’ve already done this hard training camp. You’ve already cut the weight. The question was if I would accept the weight, and I said, ‘Yeah, let’s do it. I’m already here.’ But the question was because the commission was deciding if it was possible to do the fight with this big of a (weight discrepancy). So we just waited. … But it happened, and I’m so glad with the victory. I finished the fight in good health, and we’ll be working harder and harder to get my next fight to go to the top of the division.”

On When She Wants to Fight Next: “I want to fight in maybe February,” she said. “When you’ve got a victory, you want to keep going and do better and better and become a better fighter. I really enjoy all the process. I have this goal of being UFC champion and (I’ll) do everything to make it happen.”