Latest news with #Shevchenko

Valentina Shevchenko Embraces ‘Self-Expression' After Bold Move to OnlyFans for Exclusive Content

Time of India

3 days ago

Entertainment
Time of India

Valentina Shevchenko Embraces ‘Self-Expression' After Bold Move to OnlyFans for Exclusive Content

Images via Imagn and Valentina Shevchenko's Instagram: Valentina Shevchenko Valentina Shevchenko is widely regarded as one of the most accomplished fighters in UFC history. Often ranked just behind Amanda Nunes on the list of all-time great female fighters, Shevchenko's legacy includes 10 title fight victories, solidifying her dominance inside the Octagon. Her lethal combination of technical precision and Muay Thai mastery has made her a relentless force in the flyweight division. Beyond her achievements in combat sports, Shevchenko has become a global inspiration for women, encouraging them to pursue their dreams with confidence and independence. Recently, she joined OnlyFans, citing both financial and personal fulfillment, and in doing so, 'Bullet' continues to empower others by owning her narrative and doubling down on her message of self-belief. Valentina Shevchenko Shares Her Experience After Joining OnlyFans in December 2024 In December of last year, Valentina Shevchenko expanded her brand by launching an OnlyFans account, aiming to share exclusive content with her supporters, available to those who subscribe. She's not the first UFC fighter to join the platform. Names like Paige VanZant, Jessica Andrade, Stipe Miocic, and Cory Sandhagen have also signed up in recent years. While OnlyFans has long been associated with adult content, its image is evolving. Today, it's becoming a popular platform for combat sports athletes to connect with fans, offer behind-the-scenes content, and grow their brands on their terms. Continuing that trend, the reigning flyweight champion took to her Instagram account and uploaded some pictures with an empowering caption. 'Being on OF is an incredible journey of self-expression and empowerment! I can share my passions and build real connections with my fans. @BulletValentina. Go behind the scenes with the UFC champ! 🥇 (OF: BulletValentina)' Recently, Shevchenko defeated Manon Foirot at UFC 315 to retain her 125-pound crown, and a bigger challenge certainly awaits the future UFC Hall of Famer. Will the UFC Book Valentina Shevchenko vs. Zhang Weili in 2025? A blockbuster women's champion vs. champion clash could soon be on the horizon, as UFC flyweight queen Valentina Shevchenko and strawweight titleholder Zhang Weili appear to be on a collision course for 2025. Zhang's most recent title defense came in dominant fashion, defeating Tatiana Suarez by unanimous decision at UFC 312 in February. Interestingly, before that bout was finalized, Zhang hinted that there were discussions about moving up to challenge Shevchenko for the 125-pound title instead. After her win, both Zhang and UFC CEO Dana White reignited talks of the potential superfight, with White saying he was 'probably going to say yes' to whatever the 115-pound title holder wanted next. Following her stellar performance at UFC 315, Shevchenko also expressed interest in the matchup, speaking with Ariel Helwani just before the Canadian pay-per-view. Confident and composed, 'Bullet' made her stance clear, 'Why not? Who else? I think it would be [an] amazing fight. I think it would be something that fans would love to see,' Shevchenko said of a possible showdown with Zhang. Also read: Nick Hogan Breaks Silence with Emotional Message After Hulk Hogan's Death at 71 For real-time updates, scores, and highlights, follow our live coverage of the India vs England Test match here. Catch Rani Rampal's inspiring story on Game On, Episode 4. Watch Here!

Optical Illusion: Trippy painting challenges viewers to find hidden faces, figures within artwork

Mint

4 days ago

Entertainment
Mint

Optical Illusion: Trippy painting challenges viewers to find hidden faces, figures within artwork

Optical illusion? Have you ever been tricked into seeing something that is not really there? If yes, then you have already experienced the power of an optical illusion. The illusions play on the brain's perception, making us interpret images differently than they actually are. And in the world of illusion art, Ukrainian artist Oleg Shupliak is a master of deception. One of Shupliak's most-talked-about paintings, I Was Thirteen, created in 2009, is a brilliant example of how art can be a mind-boggling visual brain teaser. At first glance, the painting seems to be a portrait of Taras Shevchenko, Ukraine's legendary poet and writer. The artwork however is more than a portrait. It is a layered narrative of perception, memory, and creativity. Upon a closer inspection, the oil painting turns into an optical illusion rich with hidden elements and surreal details. Oleg Shupliak created this painting in 2009 What appears to be Shevchenko's face is cleverly formed using various natural and man-made objects. If you look closely at the contours of the face, the eyes and notice the jawline, you will realise they have been ingeniously crafted from man-made objects. The oil on canvas artwork, which is a part of the artist's Hidden images series, has multiple images concealed within one. If you would like to challenge yourself, try finding the hidden sheep scattered through the landscape: some may require a keen eye to spot. Additionally, look for humanoid figures. Look closely and each glance may reveal new details and perspectives. This optical illusion artwork will surely blow your mind. Did you find your answers yet? In total, there are four grazing sheep embedded in the landscape of the painting with some more prominent. While two are positioned to one side of the face, a third lies above them, and a fourth sheep is hidden deeper in the background. Apart from the little boy whose mane of hair forms the contour of the nose, there are some humanoid figures concealed in Shevchenko's eyes. The painting was created by Ukrainian artist Oleg Shuplyak in 2009. Optical illusion pictures with hidden images are often referred to as "hidden object illusions" or "visual puzzles." There is no definitive count of optical illusions, as new ones are constantly being created. However, there are countless types and categories, including geometric illusions, ambiguous images, and motion illusions. Most people can perceive optical illusions, but individual perception may vary. Some may find certain illusions more challenging to interpret than others.

2025 Generali Open: Shevchenko [110th] vs. Fucsovics [91st] Prediction, Odds and Match Preview

USA Today

6 days ago

Sport
USA Today

2025 Generali Open: Shevchenko [110th] vs. Fucsovics [91st] Prediction, Odds and Match Preview

In the Generali Open Round of 16 on Wednesday, we have a matchup of No. 91-ranked Marton Fucsovics against No. 110 Alexander Shevchenko. Fucsovics is favored over Shevchenko for this match, with -165 odds compared to the underdog's +130. Tennis odds courtesy of BetMGM Sportsbook. Odds updated Wednesday at 6:35 AM ET. For a full list of sports betting odds, access USA TODAY Sports Betting Scores Odds Hub. Alexander Shevchenko vs. Marton Fucsovics matchup info Watch the Tennis Channel and more sports on Fubo! Shevchenko vs. Fucsovics Prediction Based on the implied probility from the moneyline, Shevchenko has a 62.3% to win. Shevchenko vs. Fucsovics Betting Odds Shevchenko vs. Fucsovics matchup performance & stats

2025 Swiss Open Gstaad: Shevchenko [98th] vs. Wawrinka [153rd] Prediction, Odds and Match Preview

USA Today

13-07-2025

Sport
USA Today

2025 Swiss Open Gstaad: Shevchenko [98th] vs. Wawrinka [153rd] Prediction, Odds and Match Preview

In the Swiss Open Gstaad Round of 32 on Monday, we have a matchup of No. 153-ranked Stan Wawrinka against No. 98 Alexander Shevchenko. Wawrinka is favored (-190) to get to the Round of 16 against the underdog Shevchenko (+145). Tennis odds courtesy of BetMGM Sportsbook. Odds updated Saturday at 6:35 PM ET. For a full list of sports betting odds, access USA TODAY Sports Betting Scores Odds Hub. Alexander Shevchenko vs. Stan Wawrinka matchup info Shevchenko vs. Wawrinka Prediction Based on the implied probility from the moneyline, Shevchenko has a 65.5% to win. Shevchenko vs. Wawrinka Betting Odds Shevchenko vs. Wawrinka matchup performance & stats Our team of savvy editors independently handpicks all recommendations. If you purchase through our links, the USA Today Network may earn a commission. Prices were accurate at the time of publication but may change. Gambling involves risk. Please only gamble with funds that you can comfortably afford to lose. While we do our utmost to offer good advice and information we cannot be held responsible for any loss that may be incurred as a result of gambling. We do our best to make sure all the information that we provide on this site is correct. However, from time to time mistakes will be made and we will not be held liable. Please check any stats or information if you are unsure how accurate they are. No guarantees are made with regards to results or financial gain. All forms of betting carry financial risk and it is up to the individual to make bets with or without the assistance of information provided on this site and we cannot be held responsible for any loss that may be incurred as a result of following the betting tips provided on this site. Past performances do not guarantee success in the future and betting odds fluctuate from one minute to the next. The material contained on this site is intended to inform, entertain and educate the reader and in no way represents an inducement to gamble legally or illegally or any sort of professional advice. Gannett may earn revenue from sports betting operators for audience referrals to betting services. Sports betting operators have no influence over nor are any such revenues in any way dependent on or linked to the newsrooms or news coverage. Terms apply, see operator site for Terms and Conditions. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, help is available. Call the National Council on Problem Gambling 24/7 at 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ, OH), 1-800-522-4700 (CO), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN). Must be 21 or older to gamble. Sports betting and gambling are not legal in all locations. Be sure to comply with laws applicable where you reside. It is your sole responsibility to act in accordance with your local laws.

Do MMA fighters coast to victory with open scoring? New study says no

Yahoo

03-07-2025

Sport
Yahoo

Do MMA fighters coast to victory with open scoring? New study says no

Was Valentina Shevchenko ahead on the scorecards or tied going into the last round of her 2023 rematch with Alexa Grasso? How about Aljamain Sterling in his 2022 rematch with Petr Yan at UFC 273? No one knew it at the time, but Shevchenko and Sterling were both up 3-1 on two scorecards and five minutes away from victory. Grasso and Yan needed something big — finish the fight or pull off a rare 10-8 round. In both bouts, three rounds were pretty easy to score while one was debatable. If Shevchenko and Sterling had known they were up 3-1, would they have fought differently and taken less risks? It could be a wise thing to do, but then again, professional fighters probably are who they are because they don't approach risk the same way as us mere mortals. And what would Grasso and Yan have done? Turned up the screws even more and hunted for a finish? Advertisement While science can't tell us with certainty how two specific people like Shevchenko and Sterling would behave if their fights had open scoring, it can shed light on whether fighters in general tend to systematically change their behavior when scores are known in real time. Max Holloway is one of many high-profile MMA fighters who has long advocated for open scoring. (Jeff Bottari via Getty Images) The answer for fighters in the lead might be surprising — they don't tend to coast. Being ahead in the last round doesn't statistically change fighter behavior with real-time scoring. It's the trailing fighters who change. They tend to shift away from takedowns and submission attempts — likely in pursuit of a knockout — and end up losing the final round even more often, according to my study in the Journal of Sports Analytics. Advertisement High-profile fights with controversial endings get people talking and often stir up open-scoring debates. But the benefits and drawbacks of revealing scores in real time would apply to multiple bouts on every event card when one fighter has the lead and is a round away from victory. Research breakdown Ever watched a fight with friends and the round winner was so obvious you didn't need to ask who they scored it for? Well, judges have the same thoughts, or at least I did as a judge for amateur MMA shows in Los Angeles. Sitting cageside at Metroflex Gym and the Coliseum, I'd sometimes wonder how the other two judges scored a round; other times, it was abundantly clear. Those moments were the spark for the first scholarly study of open scoring in MMA. Advertisement The Kansas Athletic Commission authorized open scoring in 2020, and Colorado's commission followed suit in 2021, then they studied the effects with available data. The big concern from critics of the model is always the claim a fighter who knows he or she is up two points or more heading into the last round will tend to disengage more and cruise to victory. Kansas studied this using Invicta and LFA events and found the fighter in the lead wins the last round even more often with open scoring — 11-12% more, to be exact. That doesn't look like leading fighters disengaging, though Kansas couldn't examine their actual statistical behavior in those final rounds. That's where UFC data comes into play, since they track a broad range of fighter performance statistics. Even though the promotion has never used open scoring, some fights are effectively openly scored to anyone with the smallest bit of fight acumen. Other fights have legitimate ambiguity entering the last round. After formalizing that idea, filtering 3,646 UFC bouts over a seven-and-a-half year period, and accounting for the fact that fight data comes from the real world instead of an experiment, what was left was something similar to a randomized controlled trial, except this one studied open scoring in MMA rather than the effectiveness of a medicine. Would Valentina Shevchenko have regained her title a year earlier with open scoring? (Chris Unger via Getty Images) The study focused on aspects of fighter performance related to the action and activity in a round (jabs, power strikes, knockdowns, damage, takedowns, submission attempts, and clinch and ground control), since promoters are the ones who ultimately decide whether to use open scoring if an athletic commission makes it available, and they aren't in the business of dull fights or lackluster endings. Advertisement Similar to Kansas, the study found fighters in the lead win the final round 10.4% more often with open scoring. And that increased win rate came entirely from the judges. Ahead fighters don't finish their opponents more often in the final round, they win it on the judges' scorecards. And there's zero evidence they disengage, coast or run away from the fight. This doesn't mean that no fighter would ever disengage in the last round. It means that fighters making decisions under the UFC's incentive structure don't show signs of systematically cruising or running away from action. The fighter with the lead likely wins the last round more often because trailing fighters change their behavior when they know they only have five minutes left to steal a win. Turns out Din Thomas was on the mark when he spoke to The Athletic on the topic five years ago. 'I do know this,' he said, 'If you've got a lead on me and you're trying to avoid fighting me, I'm coming after your ass. … If I'm fighting a guy, it's a three-round fight, he won two rounds and I'm going into the last round, and he tries to coast on me? I'm going after that motherf***er. You can't coast on a guy if the other guy's coming at you because he knows he's losing.' The 'coming at you' documented in the study is the trailing fighter reducing their rate of takedown attempts by 38% in the last round and a 49% reduction in their submission attempt rate, meaning they're likely hunting a knockout finish. Other performance metrics such as their rates of jabs and power strikes don't change, but the way they throw those strikes could change in a manner not well captured by fight statistics. Think of the combinations they throw, setups, timing and then the openings they leave for counters. Advertisement The story that seems to emerge from the data is fighters who know they're about to lose look more for a knockout, and they don't tend to get it. On top of that, judges notice degradations in their striking or strategy, so they end up losing the last round more often. After reviewing the study, Adam Roorbach, former executive director of the Kansas Athletic Commission — one of the driving forces for regulatory acceptance of open scoring — commented to Uncrowned: 'What this study shows is what we at the KAC theorized when we developed the open-scoring system. Fighters will continue to fight and not run when ahead. They are overwhelmingly in favor of utilizing open scoring and deserve to know the score of their fight.' Max Holloway scoffs at the idea of coasting. (Jeff Bottari via Getty Images) Why is it open scoring so rare? When The Athletic conducted its anonymous fighter survey in 2020, they found that 80% of fighters supported open scoring. Nothing stands out from the data in terms of putting fighters at additional risk. And logistically, if Kansas and Colorado can handle it, surely other commissions can as well. Advertisement Wading into decision-making processes inside athletic commissions is a tricky task, but what's clear and straightforward is there's no decision for promoters to make if state and tribal jurisdictions haven't approved real-time scoring as an option. In the U.S., open scoring is potentially available in four states. Kansas and Colorado have authorized it. Wyoming has had two bare-knuckle shows with open scoring and would also allow MMA promoters to use it, according to executive director Nick Meeker, but hasn't received a request yet. And New Mexico informed Uncrowned that open scoring 'would be decided on a case-by-case basis,' per communications director Andrea Brown. The open-scoring system changes fights — just not in a way that would disappoint many fight fans. We already know a Max Holloway will keep pressing with a surefire lead toward the end of a fight. Now there's statistical evidence about how numerous fighters within the UFC ecosystem generally behave when they know the score.