LAS VEGAS, Nevada —
It took 826 days for Valentina Shevchenko to dance in the Octagon again since her last triumph in 2022. On Saturday, the ‘Bullet’ showed that her ballet dancer steps are just as fine as her jiu-jitsu and tiger muay thai style by completely dominating Alexa Grasso.
The Mexican was left wanting at the biggest party ever held by the UFC at UFC Night. Grasso lost the flyweight title she had taken from Shevchenko in 2023 and that due to a draw in the rematch in March of this year, the trilogy was the next step.
Grasso was unable to avoid all eight of Shevchenko’s 12 takedown attempts to convincingly claim all five round points with a unanimous decision victory: 50-45 X3.
Shevchenko had at least 44 significant body shots to the former champion’s 18, and 39 head shots compared to just seven for Grasso.
“It’s more than a dance, it’s a style, it’s culture, it’s energizing, it’s for fighters, for warriors, and it lifts your spirit,” Shevchenko said at a press conference after her fight.
The new champion spoke of how rigorous her training camp was in order to counteract the image left by the first fight of the trilogy, which was when she lost her belt.
“We started my preparation with Tiger Muay Thai exactly for this fight,” said the champion. “My coach is always looking for what technique to use and what we need to add to my game in the sport… There was a moment when she held my head, but I was not in any danger at any time because I managed to get my arm in and avoid her hooking her hands, just like in the first fight. I was very well prepared to avoid that again.”
She said she was unfairly criticized for the tie she felt she had won. Because of all this, she wanted to leave no doubt that she deserved to regain the throne.
“For people who didn’t see the second fight, they looked for the highlights and mostly on ESPN they showed Alexa’s best moments, but not mine, so that also stayed in my mind and this time they will have to show everything I did,” said ‘Bullet’.
Regarding the possibility of fighting Grasso again in a possible playoff, since each has one win and one draw, Shevchenko said that for the moment she prefers to think about other options.
“I think the public would like to see some new faces, as I said before, I am ready to fight anyone, but I think in the near future, it would not be very appropriate,” Shevchenko said.
