LAS VEGAS (AP) – Valentina Shevchenko has no idea how many countries she has visited or how many millions of miles she has covered in her lifelong pursuit of insight, enlightenment and new martial arts skills.
Fighting is her profession, but the quest for knowledge is another great passion for a Kyrgyzstan native from a fighting family. She now calls Peru home, but trains for her fights largely in Thailand and the U.S.
Shevchenko might spend her life roaming the globe, but her travels culminate Saturday in Las Vegas when she fights bantamweight champ Amanda Nunes in the main event of UFC 213.
“My opinion, for a sportsman, it’s very important to travel,” Shevchenko said. “To travel for training in different gyms with different people, each country, each gym, it’s like its own school. And to have the opportunity to fight and to train with many different opponents, it gives more experience. … I have visited so many beautiful countries (and met) so many good spirits around the world. I would like to travel all the time.”
Nunes and Shevchenko meet in the main event of International Fight Week, the UFC’s annual weeklong celebration of its sport in its hometown. The fights start Friday night with a full card at T-Mobile Arena, highlighted by Justin Gaethje’s much-anticipated UFC debut against veteran Michael Johnson and the final fight of the UFC’s long-running competition reality show, “The Ultimate Fighter.”