In many ways UFC 275 was one of Valentina Shevchenko’s weakest performances to date. Yet this didn’t stop one of her fans from shelling an exorbitant amount to own her sweaty gear.
Longtime flyweight champ, Valentina Shevchenko was lagging behind and was playing catch up at UFC 275 – that is until an unintentional headbutt clash caused Santos’ eye to completely shut in round 3.
It has since been confirmed that Taila Santos suffered a broken orbital bone – that she will require surgery to fix.
In rounds 4 and 5, Shevchenko rallied for a comeback. Her corner was very concerned after round 3 and had ominously told her she knows what to do.
Round 5 was the key. Shevchenko delivered a takedown and controlled Taila Santos on the ground. Santos struggled to get up and was dealing with a lot of eye issues.
“Unfortunately I couldn’t really see out of my right eye after it closed. I saw two Valentinas, I just tried hit in the middle.” she said afterwards.
UFC Hall of famer Daniel Cormier blamed the headbutt for the fight outcome saying:
“(It was a) accidental clash of heads that ultimately, to me, really did determine how this fight was going to play out,” Cormier said during the UFC 275 post-fight show. “There is no reason for me to believe that anything was going to be different because every round Santos was able to do the same thing – get the takedown. … But in Round 4 and Round 5, Valentina showed her championship mettle. She showed that desire to retain that belt because she went forward, she threw caution to the wind, and she really did put it on Taila Santos.”
Sean O’Malley also slammed Shevchenko:
“I thought Santos beat Valentina last night. Dude, she took her back, was holding her mouth shut for like, three different times. Valentina didn’t land anything that was that crazy besides that headbutt. Valentina lost that fight. Santos is champ.”
But that didn’t stop a mega fan from purchasing Shevchenko’s shorts for $5000.
As per the official website:
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Own a piece of official UFC memorabilia; these event used fight shorts was used by Valentina Shevchenko during the UFC 275 PPV event, in Singapore.
The PPV event took place on June 11, 2022 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, Kallang, Singapore. The co-main event featured Valentina Shevchenko successfully defending her UFC Womens Flyweight Title by split decision, after a closely fought battle with Taila Santos.
Valentina was awarded the Fan Bonus of the Night award for this performance.
The pair or shorts were worn by Bullet Valentina for the 5 rounds on the way to defending the UFC Womens Flyweight Title. Own a piece of UFC history! ‘
The shorts alone were listed for $5000 and immediately sold.
A further look at the site reveals that many athletes opt to sell their fight gear – but the male competitors aren’t as lucky and usually the price of the item isn’t that drastic.
The only male athlete to come even remotely close is UK’s Tom Aspinall who sold UFC London gear for close to $2000.