Happy International Women’s Day!#TUF32
coaches will be @AlexaGrasso
and @BulletValentina
premiering June 4th on @ESPN! @UltimateFighter
pic.twitter.com/JC4msNmWuY— danawhite (@danawhite)
March 8, 2024
The Ultimate Fighting Championship is giving “The
Ultimate Fighter” another go this summer.
The long-running reality show will be entering into its 32nd
numbered season, kicking off on June 4, where it will air on ESPN
and ESPN+. The two coaches for the show will be women’s flyweight
champ Alexa
Grasso and former women’s 125-pound queen Valentina
Shevchenko. The weight classes they will coach were announced
in December, with the two ladies taking charge of featherweight and
middleweight teams. It is expected but not official that they will
fight for a third time at the conclusion of the season—some have
speculated on the Noche UFC event, also known as UFC 306, inside of
The Sphere in Las Vegas on Sept. 14.
Grasso wrested the belt from the dominant champion in March 2023 at
UFC 285, when she forced Shevchenko to tap to a face crank late in
the fourth round. Of note, that marked just the second submission
of her career, with the first coming one year earlier over Joanne Wood.
This victory extended the win streak to five for the woman from
Guadalajara, Mexico. The two ran it back five months later, and
they fought to a
contentious split draw.
This unsuccessful two-fight stretch for Shevchenko is the longest
winless streak for the career of “Bullet.” While Shevchenko
initially had success at 135 pounds, fighting for the belt twice
against Amanda
Nunes and losing a close split decision in the rematch,
flyweight is where she has cemented her legacy. The Kyrgyzstani by
way of Peru moved to the weight class in 2018, shellacked Priscila
Cachoeira and never looked back. Claiming the vacant throne
against Joanna
Jedrzejczyk, Shevchenko went on to defend it a remarkable seven
times to set a UFC women’s championship record.