Before she set foot in the UFC’s Octagon, Alexa
Grasso was tabbed as a potential superstar who could make
inroads for the Las Vegas-based promotion in the potentially
lucrative Mexican market.
Grasso looked the part too, compiling an 8-0 mark that included
four triumphs in Invicta Fighting Championships. Once she arrived
in the UFC, Grasso struggled to find consistency as she alternated
wins and losses through her first six appearances at 115
pounds.
It’s only recently that the Lobo Gym MMA representative has begun
to deliver on that potential. After throttling Maycee
Barber at UFC
258, Grasso has won consecutive fights in the UFC for the first
time in her career. Both of those victories have come since she
moved to 125 pounds. That the latest triumph came against Barber,
who not long ago was one of the most highly-touted prospects in any
women’s division, makes the achievement all the more impressive in
the eyes of UFC president Dana White.
“She looked incredible,” White said at Saturday’s post-fight press
conference. “Maycee
Barber is a gangster. This woman believes that she’s going to
be a champ. She comes back from her injury and she’s ready to
go.
“Grasso is a girl that we were looking at a long time ago. We
thought she was going to be the Ronda
Rousey of Mexico. She had a couple of speed bumps in her
career, but she’s on point now. Her punching is crisp and clean.
The distance she kept. She couldn’t look any more perfect tonight
going against an absolute savage.”
Grasso laughed when informed about the “Rousey of Mexico”
comparisons. She’s aware of the expectations that accompanied her
arrival in the UFC, but to continue her run of success she says she
must avoid buying into the hype.
“Of course I want to be like that in Mexico,” Grasso said of the
Rousey comparisons. “You also have to be intelligent, not [let] the
hype and media and all the attention get more important than your
training. I love to be hearing that, but I just want to be focused
on training and getting better and better and better.”
Grasso was also well aware of her inconsistent track record in the
UFC, and she was happy to finally string back-to-back wins together
in the Octagon.
“I knew I had a win-lose, win-lose [record] at strawweight,” she
said. “I worked very hard and I learned from that.”
Grasso has always been known for her boxing, but it was her ability
to negate Barber in the clinch that proved to be the difference on
Saturday night.
“We knew she is well-rounded so I had to make my name and say hey,
I’m well-rounded too,” Grasso said. “If you want to go to the
grappling, we’re going to do this. If you want to box, we’re going
to do it too. We worked very hard in every area.”
In a shallow flyweight division, Grasso’s rapid improvement could
have her on the short list of contenders in the near future.
“Do I think she’ll be a contender for the title? She was ranked No.
15 (in the UFC rankings). Tonight’s fight probably breaks her into
the Top 10, so she’s got a ways to go,” White said. “But boy, she
took a big jump tonight with that win and heading in that
direction.”