‘You Lose, You Retire!’

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

After Manon Fiorot declared she planned to retire Valentina Shevchenko, the flyweight champ issued a challenge to her ‘first grader’ opponent.

Manon Fiorot is getting impatient waiting for her women’s flyweight title shot, but that doesn’t excuse her bad manners.

Fiorot hasn’t fought since a March win over Erin Blanchfield that should have made her next up for a 125 pound title shot. Unfortunately, that championship has been tied up in a trio of fights between Valentina Shevchenko and Alexa Grasso.

Grasso took the title off Shevchenko in early 2023, and then the two fought to a split draw near the end of that year. In 2024 they coached a season of The Ultimate Fighter against each other, and in September Shevchenko won the belt back at the Sphere.

It hasn’t even been two months since then, but Fiorot is clearly sick of sitting around.

You lose - you retire Deal ?!!

ill-mannered first-grader https://t.co/ni4YIGXDjg

— Valentina Shevchenko (@BulletValentina) November 8, 2024

“Stop making people wait!” the French contender wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “Let’s do it soon enough so I can send you to retirement and move on.”

“You lose, you retire,” Shevchenko fired back. “Deal?!! Ill-mannered first-grader.”

“Deal, I’ll take you seriously when you’ve signed the contract,” Fiorot replied. “Damn teacher’s pet.”

If the UFC was smart, they’d consider setting up Shevchenko vs. Fiorot as a co-main event to the Ilia Topuria vs. Alexander Volkanovski featherweight title rematch that is rumored to go down in Spain next spring.

Fiorot hasn’t managed to catch the attention of her home country the same way Topuria has, but a big win over a tough opponent like Valentina could be just what she needs to get over in Europe. Especially if two women keep jawing at each other like this for the next couple of months.