Alexa
Grasso recently reacted to Merab
Dvalishvili taking on the role of honorary Mexican.
Advertisement
Grasso is set to defend her women’s flyweight title in trilogy
clash against Valentina
Shevchenko at UFC
306 on Saturday at the Sphere in Las Vegas. The card, which is
also being billed as Noche UFC Riyadh Season, is the UFC’s yearly
tribute to Mexican Independence Day. While the card is primarily
built around Mexican fighters, the headliner doesn’t feature
feature a fighter with Mexican roots. The UFC 306 main event will
see Sean O’Malley defend his bantamweight title against
Dvalishvili, who has taken up the role of an honorary Mexican.
The Georgian standout recently visited the Mexican city of Tijuana,
where he tried out their dance form and tasted tacos.
Mexico’s own Grasso is glad to see Dvalishvili take up the role of
an honorary Mexican.
“I feel it’s funny and it’s really nice that he’s doing that kind
of things,” the UFC women’s flyweight champ told Shakeil Mahjouri. “Tasting the food, dancing,
trying to be more with Mexican crowd and it’s really nice to watch
that.”
O’Malley vs. Dvalishvili Saturday at 10 ET on ESPN+. Order
Now!
Dvalishvili’s Mexican stint began in the lead-up to his unanimous
decision win over Henry
Cejudo in his last outing at UFC 298 this past February. “The
Machine” proclaimed himself a Mexican while accusing America’s
Cejudo of not embracing Mexican culture despite having the
roots.
Meanwhile, Grasso won the belt with an upset submission win over
Shevchenko in March 2023 before retaining it with a controversial
split draw at the inaugural Noche UFC event last September.
“Bullet” is still convinced she won that fight and that the
scorecards were influenced by the significance of the event.
However, Grasso has seemingly moved on from that controversy going
into the trilogy.
“I’m not in that,” she said. “I’m just focused on my fight and
myself. And I just want to fight again and win.”