Somehow, Jon Jones returning to action and becoming heavyweight champion by submitting Ciryl Gane in 2 minutes wasn't the most shocking thing that happened this weekend in combat sports. Alexa Grasso stepped up in the biggest spot of her career and took down one of the most dominant champions that the UFC has seen in the modern era. Valentina had more questions surrounding her than usual because she had a down performance against Taila Santos and she was finally dethroned by Grasso. It wasn't a similar fight to the Santos one though for Val, so seeing her struggle in the ways she did was more surprising than anything. I'm still sort of processing this one myself, so I guess you'll see me come to some conclusions in real time instead of the more natural ones that I already have in place when I begin. Let's lay it out there.
I guess what's interesting about this fight from the perspective of both fighters is that neither one really did anything that was completely unexpected from a style and details standpoint. The one thing that you could point to as being a wrinkle would be Alexa fighting a lot out of the south paw stance, especially early on. Other than that, it's not like we saw her doing all of these wild and crazy things she's never done before, she was just way more evenly matched skill for skill with Val than anyone gave her credit for. We've seen Valentina struggle at times with grapplers. It's not really prolonged struggles, but she has dropped rounds and even multiple rounds to grapplers before, but seeing Grasso come out and take a round from her striking cleanly was eye opening. Valentina has made a career of being sound defensively and managing distance. She easily wins rounds on the feet because she basically never gets hit. Not only was Grasso landing, she was landing flush and hard. She cracked Val more than a few times and even buckled her knees for a quick second in the first round. Grasso is evidently just a better boxer than I even realized and I already acknowledged her as being a very good boxer. She really couldn't stop the takedowns from a fresh Shevchenko, but as the fight prolonged and the takedown attempts got a little slower from a little farther out, Grasso started to stop them. She was good enough on the ground to stay safe or work back up. Valentina made a mistake in throwing the spinning kick to the body and when she missed, Grasso jumped on her back and immediately took her to the ground. She put the choke in and even though it was across Val's face, the squeeze was just too much. Val tapped and I'm sure you've seen the pictures of the side of Valentina's face by now. It all happened so fast and that added to the shock factor. Normally Valentina is the one who is capitalizing on the little mistakes and making her opponents pay, but she was on the other side of that this time. It was really an incredible performance by Grasso and one that honestly sort of feels like it could be replicated. She'll have to do a better job of stopping the takedowns in the early going, but if she can, she seemed like she could really compete at space with Val.
If the current UFC formula holds true, we're going to see Grasso vs Shevchenko II sometime in the late summer or early fall. I don't doubt that Valentina deserves the respect and everything as she's been one of the most dominant champions in the UFC's modern era. With that said, I think the immediate rematch thing has sort of run it's course. This is a pretty popular opinion on MMA Twitter these days, but this is one that I stand behind. Not every time an established champion loses do we need to see them get another shot at their title in the next defense. I just think this is one of those times where we can allow the division to work itself out. Not too long ago we were all talking about how Erin Blanchfield needed the title shot and now we're just going to put her on ice for a year? I'm not a fan. Let Blanchfield fight Grasso for the title. Have Valentina fight either Taila Santos or Manon Fiorot for number one contender status. That allows the division to continue to flow instead of having everyone sit around and wait. Having Blanchfield wait for her title shot until early 2024 isn't right and making her fight again makes no sense. We know we'll probably see Valentina vs Grasso probably in September and then Blanchfield probably has to fight Taila Santos or Fiorot around the same time, but I think that just wastes everyone's time with little upside. No one was particularly excited for this fight in the first place, but now all of the sudden it is of the utmost importance to run it back immediately. Whenever we get the rematch, I'll obviously be interested in watching it, but I just don't think it's the best for the longterm health of the division is all.
As for Valentina's performance, she didn't look awful or anything, but she's more clearly on a decline. That now makes two performances in a row where she's just not reaching the highs she used to. That doesn't take away from Alexa Grasso or even Taila Santos, but I think it is sort of clear that his version of Valentina isn't quite as good as she was even just a few fights ago against Jessica Andrade. Valentina was still up on the cards and she's still a top flyweight, but she's not going to just run over and dominate her opponent almost effortlessly anymore. As she starts to age, her competition is improving and the gap has closed. She was able to win the grappling pretty cleanly. She was getting takedowns very consistently while she was fresh. Once she slowed down though, Alexa started to see them coming a little better and stuffed some. What was really strange to watch is Val getting out struck. She almost never gets hit and Grasso was really landing some hard shots. We really just haven't seen that at 125 for Val. I think that's where I can kind of say she has started to decline because a prime Valentina just doesn't get cracked like that even once, let alone multiple times in a round. She was still winning though, but then she made a critical mistake and she paid the price for it. She missed on the kick and Alexa capitalized about as perfectly as she could have. Valentina looked like she didn't want to tap, but was basically forced to. She'll back back and still expect her to get her title back, but I think the days of seeing her 50-45 opponents without breaking a sweat are over.
Like I said before, I would be legitimately surprised to see anything other than the immediate rematch. I don't think it's the right call for the greater good of the division and the product, but in the current state of the UFC, a champion like Valentina is going to get that opportunity every time. I think running back Valentina vs Santos while Fiorot is recovering from her surgery is the way I would go if they asked, but they haven't. It's going to be Valentina vs Grasso II, hopefully in Mexico this time. That would really make the fight worth it, I think.
On a secondary note, a card in Mexico would be awesome. If they could somehow afford to get all 3 Mexicans who are holding some part of a title on that card in September for Mexican Independence, it would be incredible. Volk vs Yair in the main, Moreno vs Pantoja in the co-main, and then Grasso vs Valentina. That sounds like big business to me. Mix in some other fighters with connections to Mexico like Brain Ortega, Tracy Cortez, Loopy Godinez, Tatiana Suarez, Raul Rosas, and Dominick Cruz and I think you have a special evening ahead of you. What do I know though?
What do you guys think? What is your takeaway from the fight? Do you think Valentina is declining? Do you want the immediate rematch? Leave any and all thoughts below. Thanks for reading and have a good one.
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