It's no surprise that El Paso, Texas LOVES watching UFC matches (we even have an official UFC gym on the west side of town). If you saw UFC 306 over the weekend, you'll be surprised to know that one fighter has a really close tie to El Paso.

Valentina Shevchenko might have been born in Krygyzstan, but as far as El Paso is concerned, she is a truly an honorary El Pasoan. One local martial arts school will agree to this since Valentina actually TRAINED for her flyweight championship match at UFC 306 right here in the 915.

Where did Valentina Shevchenko train in El Paso?

The Zen Martial Arts school located at 6456 Doniphan Dr. took to Instagram to post images of Valentina training at their school & after Valentina's match. The coach & the training crew all took these photos after Valentina won the flyweight championship belt to show how proud they were of Valentina's victory.

Some photos of Valentina training at Zen were posted on her official Instagram page too, like these ones:

"Bullet" Valentina even shared these images of her basking in the beauty of El Paso. Like posing in front of our giant Greetings to El Paso mural on her official Instagram page & enjoying the sunset.

She even posted a few videos of her training (swimming) in the Rio Grande River. And yes, it was in the part of the river that flows through El Paso.

Valentina is not the only UFC fighter who's trained in El Paso; the flyweight champion Brandon Moreno from Mexico also stopped by RightDrive here in 2022 as this YouTube video shows.

Valentina is ALWAYS welcomed here to El Paso; like I said earlier: you are an official El Pasoan now!

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