Grasso vs. Fiorot Set For Noche UFC 4

Alexa Grasso, the former UFC flyweight champion, will face Manon Fiorot at Noche UFC 4 on September 12 in Glendale, Arizona.

After three straight winless outings that threatened to push her out of the title picture, Alexa stopped Maycee Barber in March at UFC Seattle. The path back to the title, however, is complicated. Valentina Shevchenko reclaimed the flyweight championship by defeating Zhang Weili at UFC 322 last year, and her return timeline remains uncertain. Natalia Silva appears to be next in line for a title shot. That means Grasso needs another statement performance to leapfrog the queue.

Fiorot’s resume includes wins over Erin Blanchfield, Katlyn Chookagian, and Jennifer Maia, and she challenged Shevchenko for the title at UFC 315 last year before losing by unanimous decision.

For Fiorot, a win over Grasso — a former champion with name recognition and a recent knockout on her record — makes a second title shot argument considerably stronger.

Grasso has already held the flyweight title, losing it to Shevchenko in the third fight of their trilogy. Getting back there requires beating the women in front of her, and Fiorot is the most meaningful available name at the moment.

Noche UFC has established itself as one of the promotion's signature annual events, typically held in or around Mexican Independence Day and carrying cultural significance particularly for Grasso, who is Mexican and has headlined the event before.