Valentina Shevchenko has Joe Rogan’s back.
Ahead of her title defense against Zhang Weili at UFC 322 this Saturday, the flyweight champion answered questions from the media, including a recent tweet in which she spoke up for Rogan following comments from former UFC star Ronda Rousey, who recently dissed Rogan’s MMA expertise, saying, “He’s not an expert, he’s a fan with an audience.”
Shevchenko wrote on social media that Rogan was “a huge expert of martial arts” and “a noble man,” and she elaborated on those comments Wednesday in New York.
“I’m for justice and I like Ronda, I like her lifestyle, being close to nature and animals and farm and anything like that, she’s a great champion, but I feel in this particular case it was not right to say these things that she said,” Shevchenko said. “Joe Rogan, he is a true example for the youth. He is a true martial artist. He has a lot of knowledge in martial arts and he’s a successful man. He’s very talented and it’s just not right to say those things. I felt when there is no justice, no, it’s something wrong.”
Rogan regularly serves as color commentator for UFC pay-per-views and also hosts The Joe Rogan Experience, a popular podcast he began in 2009. Though Rogan has made less appearances at the commentary desk in recent years, he remains a well-known figure in the MMA community. Rogan was a standout Taekwondo practitioner in his youth and also dabbled in kickboxing before pursuing a career in acting and comedy.
It’s unclear exactly why Rousey chose to criticize Rogan, though it wasn’t the first time as she also accused him of turning on her following the two losses that marked the end of her MMA career.
Despite the disappointing way Rousey hung up the gloves, she is widely regarded as a pioneer of women’s MMA and one of the best to ever compete inside the octagon.
But who does Shevchenko consider to be the female GOAT?
“I don’t know, I think Ronda she’s a great fighter and definitely she’s the first one who fought in the UFC,” Shevchenko said. “Definitely, she deserves to be the greatest fighter, but I started to practice martial arts when no one started. I was five years old, 32 years I do what I do, and my first title that I won in MMA it was back in 2003. No one would fight. There were no women. After seven years, there was the first female fight in UFC, but in 2003 I already won the title of world champion in MMA in South Korea. So in 2005, I won it again, and it’s kind of like I can say that from the experience because I’ve been in this business for a long, long time. Modern fighters they’re not even born at that year, you can see many of them is like, 2005, 2006, but I’ve been here for a long time and I have all rights to speak about how it evolved and how it was back then and now.
“So for me, it’s a very hard question who is the greatest and I never will [say] myself because I’m not that kind of person who puts the name in front of everyone. I feel everyone did enough things to secure the spot to be in this position, the greatest fighter ever.”
