The most dominant champion in girls’s flyweight historical past is a titleholder no extra as Alexa Grasso turned the primary Mexican-born feminine to win a UFC title on Saturday in a monster upset at UFC 285.
Grasso (16-3) turned the third lively Mexican UFC champion, becoming a member of males’s flyweight Brandon Moreno and interim featherweight champion Yair Rodriguez, and have become the primary 125-pound fighter to defeat Valentina Shevchenko (23-4) in a surprising fourth-round submission within the co-main occasion inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“This is a dream come true,” Grasso stated. “I’ve dreamed of this second for thus lengthy.”
Shevchenko’s unimaginable flyweight title reign, which started in 2018 with a call win over Joanna Jedrzejczyk for the vacant title, reached a UFC feminine document of seven title defenses. But Grasso, 29, offered a legit risk to the crown within the opening spherical when she rocked Shevchenko with a left cross that seemingly gained her the shut spherical earlier than Shevchenko relied on her wrestling in Rounds 2 and three to storm again.
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Just because it seemed as if Shevchenko had utterly regained the momentum, nonetheless, Grasso made a key counter to a spinning excessive kick try by the champion that led on to her demise in Round 4. Grasso ducked in to immediately take Shevchenko’s again whereas securing a rear-naked choke as the 2 fell to the bottom.
After a short wrestle, Shevchenko tapped out at 4:34 to crown simply the third girls’s flyweight champion in UFC historical past because the division debuted in 2017.
“It was the coaching,” Grasso stated. “I educated for this and I educated each single day as a result of I knew she had spinning kicks.”
Shevchenko was humble in defeat throughout her post-fight interview however shared her perception that she deserves a direct rematch.
“This is sort of what’s taking place in combined martial arts. This is how the sport goes,” Shevchenko stated. “Congratulations to Alexa. You do no matter it’s important to do to win the battle in some conditions. This is what occurred. This is sweet for the choice to have extra life earlier than I come again and win again my title.”
The victory was the fifth straight for Grasso since shifting as much as 125 kilos in 2020. Shevchenko, whose win streak was snapped at 9, suffered her first defeat since a disputed break up determination towards Amanda Nunes of their 2017 rematch for the bantamweight title.
