UFC 285 was largely billed as the “return of Jon Jones” in the weeks leading up to the event. However in the aftermath of the PPV card, much of the talk surrounded new Flyweight champion Alexa Grasso’s statement victory over Valentina Shevchenko.
If you throw out her two losses where she moved up to Bantamweight for superfights vs. Amanda Nunes, you’d have to go all the way back to September of 2010 to find the last time Shevchenko lost a match. And for the majority of the bout, it appeared as though she was on her way to claiming her 24th career victory.
However everything changed in the 4th round when, after missing a spinning back kick attempt, Grasso took the champion’s back and earned the shocking tap out victory via rear naked choke. In doing so, the 29 year old fighter handed Shevchenko only the 4th loss of her professional career, and one of the biggest upsets in women’s MMA history.
Coming into the fight, most sportsbooks had Shevchenko as an 8 to 1 favourite to defend her title. Grasso could be had at +550 or better odds at most major outlets, as few gave the Mexican born striker much of a chance against one of the most dominant champions in the history of women’s MMA.
The challenger began the contest well enough, scoring clean exchanges in the 1st round and displaying superior boxing skills than those of Shevchenko. However the champion quickly switched gears and scored numerous take downs over the subsequent rounds, establishing top control for long stretches of time.
All in all, Shevchenko succeeded in 4 of her 6 takedown attempts through 3 and a half rounds, while subsequently stuffing both of Grasso’s tries. The Kyrgyzstan born fighter peppered Grasso with head shots, landing 87 significant strikes compared to Grasso’s 59, with 78% of those going to the head.
Meanwhile, Grasso took a more balanced approach in her offense by landing a 52/20/28% head/body/leg split with her striking. While the challenger was effectively neutralized on the ground, she did get the better of the exchanges in the clinch with 13% of her blows coming in close quarters.
But in a contest between a champion who had never lost at 125lbs, and a challenger who had yet to lose since switching divisions, something had to give. And in this case, that pivotal moment came at 4:34 of the 4th round when Grasso took the champ’s back.
While Shevchenko briefly attempted to break out of the hold, she was ultimately forced to tap for the first time in her professional career. Grasso’s arm didn’t appear to fully sink in underneath the champion’s chin, however it was visible just how tight the submission was as there were clear markings across Shevchenko’s face after the fight was called off.
With the victory Grasso moves to 5-0 at Flyweight and also earned Performance of the Night honours as well.
“Please pinch me because I feel like I’m dreaming,” Grasso said afterwards. “It was training, I’m training every single day for that thing because I know she does those spinning things. I trained that because I know she hits hard, she’s a great athlete.”
While the UFC hasn’t officially announced a rematch, it would be shocking if the promotion denied their long reigning champion a chance at a do over later this year. And “Bullet” wasted little time in putting the rematch on Dana White’s radar.
“This is a part of the game. Congratulations to Alexa. If not for this spinning kick it would be a different result. This is what happens…Definitely, immediate revenge because I know I was winning the fight,” said Shevchenko afterwards.
Fight fans will have to wait and see if that request is ultimately granted by the UFC brass this summer.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner
Photo: Sgt. Natasha Stannard. This file is a work of a U.S. Army soldier or employee, taken or made as part of that person’s official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, it is in the public domain in the United States.