Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko is making the media rounds alongside Hollywood leading lady Halle Berry as they promote their new mixed martial arts (MMA) movie “Bruised,” in theaters and on Netflix.
Berry stars as “Jackie Justice,” a former UFC fighter who is down on her luck, ends up embracing her role as single parent, and battles her way back to respectability at the expense of “Bullet,” while also participating in a few smokers along the way.
“My process was if I’m trying to portray a real fighter, I had to choose someone that would be in my weight class,” Berry told MMA Fighting. “If I were really fighting, I would be a flyweight, so it did seem a little far-fetched when I realized I would be a flyweight, to ask the reigning champion to take time out of her busy schedule and training to come make a movie so I didn’t know if she would say yes.”
Cat Zingano said yes ... then got shit-canned during pre-production.
“I thought, this means so much to me, all she can do is say no but I have to try,” Berry continued. “To my surprise, when I reached out to [Valentina] she said yes, let me read it and she very quickly got back to me and she said yes. That’s when I started pinching myself and realized holy shit Valentina said [yes] and she made all the difference.”
Shevchenko (22-3) is the winner of eight straight with five finishes.
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