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UFC 306 Co-Main Event Spotlight | Alexa Grasso vs Valentina Shevchenko 3
Breaking Down The Latest Chapter In The Women's Flyweight Championship Trilogy Happening Saturday At Riyadh Season Noche UFC
UFC 306 is historic for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that the co-main event between Alexa Grasso and Valentina Shevchenko is the first women’s championship trilogy to go down in the Octagon. The flyweight champion shocked the world when she submitted Shevchenko in March 2023, and Grasso is hoping for a more definitive defense of her title than the sequel provided, while Shevchenko is keen to get her belt back in a big way.
A year after they headlined the inaugural Noche UFC event, Grasso and Shevchenko will make their epic walks to the Octagon in the second-to-last fight of the night in Sphere. It’s expected that their bout will play out as intensely as the first two installments.
Alexa Grasso
Grasso came into the UFC as an undefeated strawweight with a decent amount of hype buzzing around her, but she got off to a middling start. She split her first six fights and struggled hitting the strawweight limit, so in August 2020, she moved up to flyweight and immediately found her groove. She ripped off four consecutive wins over Ji-Yeon Kim, Maycee Barber, Joanne Wood and Viviane Araújo to earn her shot at Shevchenko.
In her first title opportunity, she routinely made things tough for Shevchenko and earned the first round on all three scorecards. Although Shevchenko took the next two rounds, there was a feeling that Grasso was still in the fight and giving the long-tenured champion actual problems to handle. Late in the fourth round, Grasso pounced on Shevchenko after the champion had thrown a spinning back kick and proceeded to shock the MMA world.
How To Watch UFC 306 Riyadh Season Noche UFC In Your Country
Grasso arguably fought better in the rematch with the Mexico-friendly crowd in Las Vegas behind her at Noche UFC. While Shevchenko routinely got Grasso to the ground, Grasso held her own on the feet and scored a knockdown, as well. Over the course of the five rounds, Grasso appeared to carry the bigger pop on her punches, and a fifth-round rally was enough to get the draw.
Valentina Shevchenko
“Bullet” has been one of the best mixed martial artists on the roster since she made her debut back in December 2015. After opening her UFC account to the tune of a 3-1 record, including wins over Holly Holm and Julianna Peña, Shevchenko faced Amanda Nunes at UFC 215 for the bantamweight belt. Nunes bested Shevchenko a year-and-a-half prior, but the second bout was as close as it gets. The judges gave the split decision nod to Nunes much to the dismay of Shevchenko, and the result was tight enough for people to call for a trilogy bout until Nunes retired in June 2023.
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Following her loss to Nunes, Shevchenko moved down to the newly opened flyweight division and immediately asserted her dominance. From February 2018 to June 2022, Shevchenko won nine fights in a row, defended her title seven times and often looked unchallenged at 125 pounds. Highlights during her title reign included wins over former champions Joanna Jędrzejczyk and Jéssica Andrade, her highlight reel head kick knockout on Jessica Eye and relative domination in her other defenses.
Full Fight | Alexa Grasso vs Valentina Shevchenko 2
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Full Fight | Alexa Grasso vs Valentina Shevchenko 2
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Taila Santos pushed Shevchenko for the first real time in June 2022, but Shevchenko showed off her championship resolve and Fight IQ to bring home that decision. Although she doesn’t make excuses for her title-losing tap out at UFC 285, she continues to bring up her qualms with the judge who gave Grasso a 10-8 scorecard in the fifth round of their rematch. Had that score come in as a 10-9, Shevchenko would have earned the split decision nod, but she is adamant about bringing the trilogy to a definitive end.
Meeting in the Middle
While some have qualms about the draw a year ago, what’s indisputable is that the fight was close. Grasso outlanded Shevchenko on the feet, including the knockdown scored in the second round. Shevchenko found most of her success on the ground, scoring four takedowns on seven attempts and collecting more than eight minutes of control time, but Grasso held her own on the ground in pockets, including in the fifth round, where she had 90 seconds of control.
Despite the year between bouts, there are little surprises remaining when it comes to a trilogy fight. Collectively, Grasso and Shevchenko already spent nearly 45 minutes in the Octagon with one another over the last 16 months, as well as a season coaching opposite one another on The Ultimate Fighter. They even split winners this season with Grasso coaching Mairon Santos to the featherweight tournament title while Team Shevchenko representative Ryan Loder took the middleweight tournament crown.
RELATED: Shevchenko Made For This | MMA Coaches Talk 306 Co-Main
The two have remained respectful throughout their saga and are both keen to give the other their flowers. Competitively, it’s everything a fight fan could ask for in terms of competitiveness and the quality of each of their contests. On September 14, they go out to once again prove they are the top two flyweights in the world while a gang of contenders awaits what they hope is the end of a rivalry.
UFC 306: O'Malley vs Dvalishvili took place live from Sphere in Las Vegas, Nevada on September 14, 2024. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!