Grasso Admits Her ‘Weird’ Relationship’ With Shevchenko

Alexa Grasso says she is not on the best terms with her rival, Valentina Shevchenko.

The pair are coming off a controversial split draw against each other at UFC Noche last year. Mike Bell scored the last round 10-8 in favor of Grasso, meaning Grasso kept her UFC Flyweight Title. Dana White was unhappy with the scoring as he felt Valentina had done enough to win.

Grasso won their first fight with an upset win at UFC 285, meaning their upcoming UFC 306 trilogy at The Sphere will be decisive. They have also competed as rival coaches on the TUF 32 series. While they kept things respectful on the show, their rivalry has been growing. 

Grasso Reacts

“We’ve been so many times together. All through the show. We had a lot of faceoffs. Again and again and again. I don’t know. It’s really, really weird. I can tell it’s really weird. But at the end of the day, on fight week, and the day of the fight, things change. We are going to try to kill each other and that’s the most important thing. It’s really cool to be able to meet with her more. We were able to do a lot of stuff together,” Grasso said 

There is also plenty of history on the line. It is the first trilogy that will take place in women’s UFC history. The card will also compete against Canelo Alvarez vs. Edgar Berlanga’s boxing fight. Canelo is a Mexican who will fight on Mexican Independence Weekend, meaning the pressure is on Grasso and Valentina to put on a big spectacle. Dana White has said that at least $17 million has been spent on the card, as the focus is on quality.

There are ten fights instead of the usual 12, giving Grasso and Valentina a bigger platform. However, reports indicate that the event has lost money, while there are suggestions that tickets are struggling to sell out. However, there is still hope that the event will break the UFC’s live gate record of $17.7 million, set by Eddie Alvarez and Conor McGregor in 2016 at UFC 205. Grasso has promised that it will be an enthralling fight. 

Expectations

“She has done so much and is a really big inspiration to be in this stage and doing these things making history. We are doing something really cool. The first women’s trilogy. The first fight was amazing. The second fight was so, so amazing. You can expect the third fight is going to be a hell of a fight,” Grasso stated

Another factor which makes this an intriguing bout is injuries. Both fighters injured themselves as they underwent surgery. Grasso had surgery on her hand, which prevented her from training. Meanwhile, Shevchenko injured her thumb in the first round during the fight. However, she continued to fight on until the end. She had surgery, as the fighter expects to be ready for the biggest bout of her career, as fans will know who the best flyweight is. 

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