Valentina Shevchenko rounds off 2020 by being named the Female Fighter of the Year by BT Sport

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Aniket Rai

Valentina Shevchenko ends 2020 by winning Female Fighter of the Year by fans

The Open Mat awards were held this week on the YouTube channel of BT Sport, and Valentina Shevchenko won the Fighter of the Year in the female category.

The award, conducted by BT Sport, saw 4 awards being decided completely by fans’ vote on the BT Sport UFC’s twitter acount.

It included the Female Fighter of the Year, which ‘Bullet’ won comfortably. Shevchenko is the current UFC flyweight champion; a belt she won in December 2018 by beating Polish fighter Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 231.

The award is highly deserved. Shevchenko is one of the most complete fighters in women’s MMA and one of the best strikers the division has ever seen.

She has defended her flyweight championship 4 times. Shevchenko is also the first and only woman to defend the UFC flyweight championship.

No female fighter has more wins in that division of UFC than Shevchenko. And, the Kyrgyzstani-Peruvian fighter has only gotten better.

Valentina Shevchenko has won both her fights this year in UFC. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
Valentina Shevchenko has won both her fights this year in UFC. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

Female Fighter of the Year Valentina Shevchenko had a superb 2020

The 32-year-old fought twice this year, and both of them were high-profile title defences. After having defender her UFC flyweight belt twice before the start of 2020, she faced Katlyn Chookagian in February 2020 at UFC 247.

She won the fight by TKO in round 3 and secured an impressive win. She later faced Jennifer Maia at UFC 255 in a match that lasted the full 5 rounds.

A dominant performance from the champion saw her win the fight by a unanimous decision and defend her belt for the 4th straight time. Truth be told, it looks like the championship will not be changing hands anytime soon.

Shevchenko looks a class above everyone in her division and has looked in the form of her life in the past 12 months.

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