Fight or flight: the Antonina Shevchenko story

The term “fighter pilot” is taken to a whole new level with regard to Antonina “La Pantera” Shevchenko. Her slender figure, and unassuming demeanor, would never lead you to believe that her hands become deadly weapons in a boxing ring. This Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) martial artist, and Muaythai world champion, added “pilot” as one of her many titles in 2019. Skies had a chance to catch up with “La Pantera” during a visit to Sin City, where Antonina and her Cessna 172 are based.

As we sat down to breakfast, Antonina removed her sunglasses to reveal two black eyes. Seeing that is a startling experience for anyone who doesn’t understand the context of the situation.

“I hope I don’t scare anyone,” she said, as she set her sunglasses on the table and glanced around. Days before our meeting, Antonina fought and, sadly, was defeated in a difficult match at UFC Fight Night. Like anything in life, your losses are equally as important as your successes, if not more so. Hardships and defeat are important in the human experience, especially as a fighter. Antonina has had a wildly successful fighting career, and attributes a lot of that success to her mother, a martial arts coach and president of the Kyrgyz Muaythai Federation.

Antonina began her martial arts training when she was seven years old with her younger sister, Valentina, and started fighting as a professional at the age of 14. Now 36 years old, martial arts have been Antonina’s primary focus her whole life. But, since beginning her journey to becoming a pilot, she is dedicating more and more time toward a new passion: aviation.

Antonina had always wanted to fly, and because of all the infrastructure in the U.S., it was possible for her to pursue that ambition when she moved to Nevada. She purchased a Cessna 172K in 2019 and then completed her private license. She continued her training, completing her IFR and commercial licence — all while training for her UFC fights. As a professional athlete with a full schedule dedicated to her training, the level of discipline required to pursue your pilot’s license at the same time is nothing short of remarkable.

“Flying is a lot like martial arts because your training and studying never ends,” she said. You are constantly pushing yourself to grow, to learn more, and overcome your weaknesses. There are many transferable skills between fighting, and flying, she added.

After years of training, Antonina has developed a level of focus a surgeon would envy, which has contributed to her overall success in the field.

When asked what she had the most difficulty with in her training, Antonina laughed and said, “All of it.” Flight training is difficult enough as a student pilot. Now, imagine the difficulties you would have if English was not your first language. English is Antonina’s third language. Originally from Kyrgyzstan, where she was raised speaking Russian, she later moved to Peru and learned Spanish, before moving to the U.S.

She reminisced about when she first started studying toward her pilot’s license: “I bought my first book that I really love by Rod Machado. I opened the first page and started to read. I was translating with google translator every fourth word because there were so many aviation-specific words that I hadn’t come across before.” An overwhelming realization when you understand the work load associated with pilot training, and then realize you have to learn another language while you’re at it.

“It was really difficult to move forward,” she continued. “I was reading one page a day, and sometimes that was even hard when I was competing and doing training camps.”

Undiscouraged, she persisted through and overcame the language barrier.

With so many obstacles in her way, you can’t help but wonder where she found her motivation and determination to pursue this passion. It all ties back to the magic of flight: “After each flight, when I land, I feel more inspired. I come back home and am more motivated to study,” she said.

Now an instrument rated commercial pilot, Antonina is continuing to push herself, always striving to learn and experience more. She really enjoyed the process of becoming a pilot, and never expected how big of an impact flying would have on her life. “When I first started flying, I never imagined that I would become a commercially rated pilot. I didn’t think about it, I was just focused on landing the airplane. But little by little, I learned more and more. I really started to enjoy it, and I thought to myself that I would be really happy if I could do this for a living.”

From professional fighter to career pilot, any company would be lucky to have Antonina at the controls of their aircraft.

After learning about her early life, her journey as a professional fighter, and becoming a pilot, I was led to the next big question: what does she have planned for the future? Her eyes lit up as she answered. “Being a fighter, you understand you can’t do it your whole life. Fighting makes your life interesting, exciting, and so filled with emotions, that you could not have an ordinary job afterward. Becoming a pilot would be such an amazing change of careers for me.”

An exciting prospect filled with possibility and adventure, flying for a living is certainly one way that Antonina can continue living such an extraordinary life. Similar to fighting, flying makes you live in the moment and gives you a different perspective and appreciation for life.

She added: “I really like bush flying and general aviation because it’s so unique and exciting. I would really like to do that, but I also have this dream to become an airline pilot and wear that uniform. But I think I still have time to decide.”

No doubt, there is certainly still time to decide as Antonina continues to fight for the UFC, all while keeping her passion for aviation alive by flying her airplane and continuing her flight training. Last year, Antonina also began volunteering for the civil air patrol (CAP), an organization that focuses on search-and-rescue and airspace education. This year, she was ranked first lieutenant in her squadron.

Antonina believes that physical health is incredibly important for pilots, and that eating healthy and exercising are critical to keeping a sharp mind. “When I train for a fight, I will eat very clean; and when I fly, I eat very clean,” she said.

We finished up our breakfast and noticed that the tables around us, that were once full of chattering people, were now empty. Three hours had flown by getting to know this inspirational woman. As we concluded our interview, Antonina shared some advice and, quite possibly, the secret to her success: “Be patient and passionate, and the results will come,” she said. A great reminder, in a world where we desire instant gratification, instant results, and instant success.

Skies can’t wait to follow up with Antonina in a few years, when she is either a captain for an airline, or dipping low through the valleys of Alaska in a bush plane. Or, who knows, maybe both? It certainly wouldn’t surprise us. Thanks to Antonina for sharing her story and inspiring us with her passion for life and the skies above.