Alexa Grasso vs Valentina Shevchenko II to headline UFC Fight Night 227

We saw one of the greatest upsets in MMA history go down earlier this year in March at UFC 285 when Alexa Grasso (16-3) took the UFC flyweight championship from longtime title holder Valentina Shevchenko (23-4).

Shevchenko, a multi-time kickboxing champion and seven-time defending UFC champion, was going into her eighth title defense, though she of course didn’t get to number eight.

Instead, she was submitted (rear naked choke) late in round four, a result that truly shocked the world, as Alexa Grasso became just the second undisputed Mexican champion in UFC history.

That was the only time Shevchenko had ever been submitted, and in all reality, the only time she definitively lost aside from maybe her first Amanda Nunes fight.

Shevchenko’s first career defeat in MMA came in her eighth fight to Liz Carmouche via TKO (doctor stoppage), a defeat she’d later avenge in a title defense. She also lost to Amanda Nunes twice; the first fight Nunes was lucky it was a three-round encounter, and arguably could’ve been scored a draw. Shevchenko lost the unanimous decision.

Then in their five-round rematch for the bantamweight title, Nunes won a split decision in a fight many saw Shevchenko winning. Her defeat to Grasso was unexpected to say the least, considering nothing like that had ever happened before throughout her 26-fight career.

Then we have Grasso, the newly crowned champion that comes into the rematch on a five-fight win streak with all the confidence in the world. She took a page out of Taila Santos’ book, who had Shevchenko’s back for a good portion of their 25-minute fight, and she took advantage of that small gap in her defensive game.

Now we get to see if she can do it again.

This bout is to headline UFC Fight Night 227 on September 16, 2023, and is to go down live from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Who comes out on top in this flyweight championship rematch going down late this summer?

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Brady Ordway

I became a fan of combat sports when I was 12 years old. I was scrolling through the channels and landed upon Versus, where WEC was televised. Urijah Faber fought Jens Pulver for the second time that night. That's the first fight I ever saw, and I was immediately hooked. So eventually, I began covering the sport in the fourth quarter of 2018, and have since started writing about animals as well. If you'd like to see those pieces, be sure to check out learnaboutnature.com!

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