Valentina Shevchenko: Halle Berry attending UFC 247 ‘was one of the biggest motivations for me’

Halle Berry got to witness her friend Valentina Shevchenko’s masterclass victory over Katlyn Chookagian firsthand in Houston, Texas at UFC 247 on Saturday night.

And although the actress is famed for her work on the silver screen, the flyweight champion insists that the Oscar winner has developed sound fighting skills while preparing for her role in Bruised - a film in which both Berry and Shevchenko will appear in.

Shevchenko - who embraced Berry in the crowd following her third successful title defense - insisted that the presence of the celebrated thespian was a huge motivational tool for her ahead of the fight.

“I’m so happy that she came,” Shevchenko told MMA Fighting’s Eurobash podcast.

“It was one of the biggest motivations for me. Before the fight, she went to our changing rooms when I was warming up. She said, ‘Best wishes,’ and it was amazing. Yes, definitely, it was one of the reasons why I felt I had to finish the fight sooner,” she said, laughing.

“Bullet” went on to praise the skillset Berry developed in the three years she spent preparing for Bruised.

“You know, she is very good,” said Shevchenko. “For this film she was preparing, and she was preparing for more than three years doing Muay Thai, MMA, boxing, every kind of martial arts. I can say from a professional point of view, she is in excellent shape, she is in good form...and yes, she is a fighter now. She is an actress and a fighter.”

Valentina Shevchenko’s appearance on the latest Eurobash begins at 9:30.