Another title fight has been added to the UFC’s March schedule. Women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko is set to put her women’s flyweight title on the line against Alexa Grasso. The title fight will take place at UFC 285 on March 4 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
MMA Junkie‘s Mike Bohn confirmed ESPN Deportes’ Carlos Contreras Legaspi’s initial report that Shevchenko will be defending her title at the event.
Grasso earning the title shot comes as a bit of a surprise, as it seemed like the promotion was leaning towards a ‘Bullet’ vs. Amanda Nunes trilogy bout for the women’s bantamweight championship.
However, the No.4-ranked flyweight is deserving, she has remained unbeaten since moving up to 125lbs in 2020.
The challenger has a 15-3 MMA record and is currently riding a 4-fight winning streak that includes wins against Ji Yeon Kim, Maycee Barber, Joanne Wood, and Viviane Araujo.
It will be interesting to see how ‘Bullet’ approaches the bout, especially considering she is coming into the fight following a controversial split-decision win against Taila Santos last June at UFC 275.
Valentina Shevchenko has 7 successful title-defenses
Valentina Shevchenko has made a strong case for being one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in women’s MMA.
Since moving down to 125lbs when the UFC introduced a women’s flyweight division in 2017, ‘Bullet’ has remained unbeaten. She defeated former strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk via unanimous decision to win the vacant flyweight championship at UFC 231 in 2018.
‘Bullet’ has since successfully defended her title on seven occasions. The last time ‘Bullet’ tasted defeat was in 2017, when she lost a controversial split decision to women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes.