Valentina Shevchenko is currently the biggest female superstar on the entire UFC roster. The fighter made her UFC debut in 2015 and is now the reigning flyweight champion. Additionally, Shevchenko is also the highest-ranked fighter on the UFC women’s pound-for-pound list. Shevchenko is not the only athlete in her family. Antonina Shevchenko is the older sister of Antonina Shevchenko. She is also a successful UFC fighter.
All these successes of the Shevchenko sisters are largely due to their coach Pavel Fedotov. Fedotov’s contributions to their lives are enormous and difficult to imagine without his guidance. Both sisters started training in martial arts very early and Fedotov was always there to help them. He has been with the sisters for two decades and has trained them. It was Fedotov who asked the sisters to leave Kyrgyzstan for Peru to continue their training.
Currently, Fedotov is not only the coach of the Shevchenko sisters, there are also rumors that he is even married to Antonina. Which raised some questions regarding the time Pavel had feelings for her. Fedotov had been training for 20 years at the time and many fight fans find it strange that he felt the need to marry Antonina as soon as he turned 18. It could be that Fedotov was always attracted to her, even when she was a child, which makes the situation even more worrying.
Many have accused Fedotov of being a pedophile who used his influence over Antonina from a young age to marry her. There is also additional confusion regarding Fedotov’s marriage to Valentina and there are no credible sources to substantiate these rumors. Valentina is very private and does not reveal much about her personal life. However, according to Essentially sporty Bullet dated a man in the past whose identity is not publicly known.
Story of Pavel Fedotov and Antonina and Valentina Shevchenko
However, it is not uncommon for Kyrgyz women to marry much older men. There are also many cases where coaches have married their students.
Fedotov was once in the Soviet armed forces, then took up martial arts and began training fighters under his leadership. During a interview, Fedotov revealed his first meeting with Valentina when she was a child. He said:
“Valentina was a brave little girl. She could fight with heavier, more experienced girls and boys without fear. Sometimes a strong blow could stop them. But she would get up and start fighting again. Sometimes she cried, but she always fought with the same intensity… After a few years, when I felt that she and her older sister Antonina took training very seriously, I began to lend them a lot more attention..”
