Valentina Shevchenko explains what UFC must do to provide “fair fight” against Alexa Grasso

The Women’s Flyweight Division in the UFC is set to host its first trilogy bout, with Valentina Shevchenko, the former UFC Women’s Flyweight Champion of the World, going against Alexa Grasso, the current Flyweight Women’s UFC Champion of the World.

Both fighters also serve as coaches in TUF 32 (The Ultimate Fighter 32), which is expected to feature 8 Middleweights along with 8 Featherweights. With filming for TUF starting on March 12th, the finale of the season is expected to take place in June 2024.

Valentina Shevchenko wants “fair fight” with Alexa Grasso

The title fight trilogy among the coaches of TUF and 125-pound flyweight rivals, no official dates have been announced yet. The expectation is for Grasso vs. Shevchenko 3 to happen on Mexican Independence Day weekend, that could also be the UFC 306 card.

Valentina Shevchenko met with Alexa Grasso for a rematch that took place at UFC Fight Night 277, which resulted in a sensational split draw that left Alexa Grasso ahead in the series 1-0-1. Valentina expects to set the scores during the Trilogy bout.

“I think it would be more fair if one for her, one for me,” Shevchenko said at TUF 32 media day. “We fought on Mexican Independence Day before. Now we have to find something with Kyrgyzstan,” added Shevchenko.

“Even now, I was briefly looking through the fighters,” expressed Shevchenko. “We have a Mexican fighter, but we don’t have a Kyrgyzstan fighter. So, it has to be one for her, one for me so that this is a fair game (laughs).”

The Grasso vs. Shevchenko 2 event will be celebrating a 1 year anniversary by the time they compete again if they do during UFC 306.

Valentina Shevchenko and Alexa Grasso to coach at TUF 32

Alexa Grasso, the current Flyweight Champion and former champ Valentina Shevchenko will be coaches on The Ultimate Fighter show, which will premiere June 4 on ESPN, UFC CEO Dana White announced Friday on social media.

Alexa Grasso and Valentina Shevchenko have already been spotted by MMA Press, getting ready to start shooting TUF 32. The 32nd season of the MMA-based reality TV series will feature fighters from the featherweight and middleweight divisions. The winner of each of those tournaments will earn a UFC contract and potential UFC stardom.

Alexa Grasso (16-3-1) is unbeaten in her last six UFC bouts. She defeated Valentina Shevchenko to win the title via submission at UFC 285 in March 2023. Grasso, 30, has not lost since moving up to flyweight from strawweight back in 2020. Shevchenko (23-4-1) had a nine-fight winning streak that was broken by Alexa Grasso last year.

The fighter from Kyrgyzstan had seven successful title defenses at flyweight, the most consecutive title defenses in one division by any woman in UFC history. Shevchenko, 36, is considered one of the greatest women’s MMA fighters of all time. Shevchenko is also the first and the only woman to have been inducted in the UFC Hall of Fame.