Valentina Shevchenko taking 'TUF 32' coaching gig seriously, content with UFC title shot timeline

LAS VEGAS – Valentina Shevchenko didn’t sign up to coach ‘The Ultimate Fighter 32” just to take pictures and be on television.

As she drove through old Kyrgyzstan villages recently, Shevchenko (23-4-1 MMA, 12-3-1 UFC) officially received word of the proposal from the UFC. Initially, she wasn’t really interested. But as time passed, Shevchenko warmed up to the idea and is now dead-focused on ensuring her team performs against Alexa Grasso’s.

“I was like, ‘I want to rest a little bit more. I want to travel a little bit more.’ But once you start to think and process about the idea, your mind is starting to change and you are completely transferring into the fighting mode, the competition mood,” Shevchenko told reporters, including MMA Junkie, on Monday at the UFC Apex. “First, my impression was like, ‘Ahhh.’ But then, yeah. It’s going to be cool.”

Shevchenko has one goal, and that’s to improve her fighters, not reinvent them. In order to do so, she’s not interested in guest fighters on her coaching staff. She wants full-time coaches and will bring in some of the best she knows from around the world.

“If I want my fighters, my team, to be the winners, I have to bring them the best coaches,” Shevchenko said. “Not all former fighters or active fighters are the best coaches. They might perform good, but they cannot teach. I have to focus on having the best teachers, the best coaches. This is the strategy. I don’t want to just show myself. I’m here not for myself. If I was just here for myself, of course, I’d take a picture or something like that. I just care about team. I’m here for my team.”

“TUF 32” begins filming this week with a June 4 premiere date. Typically, each season runs weekly with a total of 12 episodes. If that maintains with this season, Shevchenko and Grasso (16-3-1 MMA, 8-3-1 UFC) won’t fight until at least September – which could align them for the promotion’s highly anticipated Noche UFC celebration at Sphere in Las Vegas. The two flyweights headlined the inaugural event in 2023.

“I was just recently coming from the surgery, the hand surgery,” Shevchenko said. “I still have a scar on my thumb. Time-wise, I think it’s good because I will not have to force myself in terms of preparation. If you force yourself and you just rush in, it’s going to happen that you get injured again, and it’s going to delay everything for even more time. Time-wise, I think it’s good.”