UFC: Flyweight queen Alexa Grasso bags trilogy with Valentina Shevchenko
Alexa Grasso will have to see former-champion Valentina Shevchenko’s face one more time in the octagon, following their draw at the Noche UFC. That will be their second match after Alexa Grasso dethroned Shevchenko at UFC 285 to become the new flyweight champion.
During their first match at UFC 285, where Shevchenko was won by a persistent chokehold, she was quick to ask for a rematch. According to her, she was winning. This statement implied that her opponent took advantage of her tiny mistake to take her down on the canvas an get her to give up. She was clearly confessing that such a mistake would not take place anymore.
The second and most recent contest between the two saw them evenly matched, so that some admitted that the women might find it hard to win each other.
A score released on the 5th round has been stirring controversy, because it seems that the judge gave pretty Grasso more than she worked for. Daniel Cormier was quick to point it out. Cormier is a Hall of Famer, and a commentator at the UFC.
‘Round 5 is where things get a little crazy – Round 5 is where sh*t gets crazy. Mike Bell scores the fifth round for Alexa Grasso. Let’s be honest: The start of Round 5 was Alexa Grasso’s round. She was winning that round. Then she gets taken down. She gets beaten, ground-and-pound, some submission attempts and she handily lost that round. I get in the octagon, I’m waiting to interview whoever won. As I’m scoring the fight in my mind I’m thinking Alexa Grasso’s going to retain. But I get something (and) it’s a draw.’
Cormier went on, ‘It felt like me, for Mike Bell, I don’t know what he could’ve watched to score that fifth round a 10-8 for Alexa Grasso. She won the round. No doubt about it. She won the round. But a 10-8 – it is honestly one of the worst scorecards that I’ve seen in a really long time.’
Both women would work hard in this third bout to give the UFC a winner