UFC champion slams Khabib Nurmagomedov for claiming he's against women competing in MMA

UFC flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko has hit out at Khabib Nurmagomedov for his comments on women competing in mixed-martial-arts.

Nurmagomedov hasn’t found in MMA since defeating Justin Gaethje via triangle choke back in October 2020, honouring his mother’s wish that it was his final time in the octagon following the death of his father Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov.

Instead, Khabib now focuses his efforts on training fellow members of his gym and can be seen cornering current welterweight champion and long-time friend Islam Makhachev.

On the other hand, Shevchenko remains active in the UFC and last defended her flyweight crown against Zhang Weili at UFC 322 in November 2025.

Khabib caused a social media storm this week by suggesting that women shouldn’t be competing in the UFC.

“Now people will criticize me again and so on. But look, the most precious thing on our body is our face, right? Every day we all look in the mirror and want to look good. Men maybe once, but if women have a mirror with them, they look 1,000 times a day. At least 100,” he said via Sun Hills Development.

“How do you personally feel when you go to the gym and get hit in the face? You haven’t been hit. But you don’t need that. But there are women who choose this sport. It’s their choice. They chose it. If you ask me, I wouldn’t choose this sport for women. It’s brutal even for men, first of all. For women it’s… I don’t even consider it.

“If they want to come to the gym and train to be able to defend themselves, there are women who think they can come, train, and if someone attacks them, they can defend themselves. Well, there are such women. Let them go and train, no problem."

He added: “But for me, it’s still something wild when a woman gets hit in the face. Whether it’s a man hitting or a woman hitting a woman. Especially if a woman is a mother, or has a couple of kids. She spends the whole day getting hit in the face and then comes home. Where I grew up, I didn’t see anything like that.

“Every person in life has a mission. For a man, it’s to raise children, take care of the family, take care of loved ones, neighbors, relatives. There are very few women who take on big responsibilities. It’s very hard for them. It’s not without reason. Even God created it this way. A woman is weaker, a man is stronger.

“People want to change and mix all of this. I don’t know how you feel about it, but I like when a man does men’s work, and a woman does women’s work. You’re not kids. Decide for yourselves.”

Khabib has long held this traditional view and been criticised for his stance in the past.

2026 could see the biggest women’s MMA fight in recent years as Ronda Rousey comes out of retirement to fight Gina Carano on Netflix in May and UFC champion Shevchenko has slammed Khabib for his remarks.

She wrote on X: “Women are weak?!

“Tell that to my sister—an airline captain. Or tell it to the "Night Witches" the all-female bomber regiment of World War II, who dropped bombs under the cover of darkness with their engines off, then landed in pitch blackness without landing lights. For this, they earned a reputation for being elusive and deadly.

“Go ahead, tell them who is stronger.

“It all depends entirely on one's upbringing. You can just as easily raise a man to be a helpless milksop who is incapable of doing anything.

“Martial arts represent a warrior tradition where there is no distinction between man and woman.

“There is only the Art itself.

“That is precisely why people train: to become more graceful, stronger, and wiser—and to ensure that no one ever gets the chance to punch them in the face.”

Shevchenko is not yet booked for her next bout in the UFC.