It appears that an immediate rematch with Valentina
Shevchenko will be next for newly-crowned flyweight champion
Alexa
Grasso.
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Dana White indicated as much during the UFC Fight Night 223
post-fight press conference on Saturday. He did not reveal a
potential date or event for the bout, however. “We’re working on
that, too,” White said regarding the rematch. “That’s one of the
fights we’re definitely working on right now.”
Grasso authored one of 2023’s biggest upsets when she submitted
Shevchenko with a fourth-round face crank in the UFC 285 co-main
event on March 4. That ended a streak of seven consecutive
successful title defenses for Shevchenko, who had established
herself as one of the top female pound-for-pound fighters in the
world.
The 29-year-old Grasso has won five consecutive fights since moving
up to 125 pounds from strawweight. Had the UFC elected to avoid an
immediate rematch, Grasso had a number of interesting options for
her first title defense including Erin
Blanchfield, Manon
Fiorot and Taila
Santos.