Natalia Silva Sends Message to UFC Rival Valentina Shevchenko
Newly crowned UFC women’s flyweight champion Natalia Silva sent a message to former champion Valentina Shevchenko after winning the belt.
With Shevchenko vacating the belt due to injuries, Silva fought and defeated Wang Cong for the vacant title at UFC 332 last week.
Following that bout, Shevchenko congratulated Silva on her title fight victory, while also sending her a message suggesting that she keep her belt warm, a comment that Silva didn’t react to kindly.
Natalia Silva Sends Stern Message to Valentina Shevchenko
Speaking to MMAFighting.com following her title-winning performance, Silva sent a stern message to Shevchenko, making sure the former champion knows that she’s the belt-holder now.
“First of all, thank you. It’s nice that she had time to watch the fight, right? (Nice that you had time to) follow the division, to see what’s going on in the division. The first thing she already got wrong in that post was talking about how the belt is hers. ‘My belt. I’m going to get my belt.’ The belt isn’t hers anymore, the belt is mine. I’m the champion. I fought for this, I earned it, so I’m the champion now,” Silva said.
“And as far as keeping the belt warm, she doesn’t need to worry because I’m going to take very good care of it. There’s not much else to say to her, really. That’s it. The belt isn’t hers, the belt is mine, and I’m going to take good care of it. Keep it warm, right? She wasn’t even keeping it warm herself. She would take a year between fights. She was fighting once a year, and now she’s talking about keeping the belt warm?”
Strong Words by the New UFC Women’s Flyweight Champion
Silva is usually the reserved type, so to see her speak this way about Shevchenko is a bit surprising, as Silva is not typically the kind of fighter who talks trash.
That being said, she was clearly upset that Shevchenko made the comment she did about Silva holding onto her belt while she’s out, but the comment may have only served to fire Silva up.
This article was originally published on HEAVY
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