- Alexa Grasso described her relationship with Valentina Shevchenko as “weird”
- The flyweight champ thinks “Bullet” should be more aggressive at UFC 306
Alexa Grasso opened up about her rivalry with Valentina Shevchenko and why she thinks “Bullet” lost her title during their first match.
The rivalry has made things weird
Speaking to MMA Junkie, Grasso revealed that what it has been like facing and working with no other fight than “Bullet” for an entire year. For the reigning flyweight champ, she could say that she and Shevchenko has establish a “really weird” connection throughout that stretch.
“We’ve been so many times together. All through the show, we had a lot of faceoffs, again and again and again. I don’t know. It’s really, really weird,” Grasso said. “I can tell it’s really weird. But at the end of the day, on fight week, and the day of the fight, things change. We are going to try to kill each other and that’s the most important thing. It’s really cool to be able to meet with her more. We were able to do a lot of stuff together.”
“I admire her. She has done so much and is a really big inspiration to be in this stage and doing these things making history,” she added. “We are doing something really cool. The first women’s trilogy. The first fight was amazing. The second fight was so, so amazing. You can expect the third fight is going to be a hell of a fight.”
Alexa would like to see Valentina be more aggressive
Grasso also weighed in on how she sees her trilogy match with Shevchenko would play out. According to Mexican champ, she would welcome a dog fight with “Bullet” this time as she believes Shevchenko lost her title due to lack of aggressiveness.
“She has a style where she waits too much,” Grasso said. “She’s just going back and back and back. I don’t think that’s good. If you want to get your belt back, I don’t think that’s the way to do that. If you want the belt you have to go for it. I would love that. I love to exchange. I love battles. But she has a fighting style where she’s going back, back, back – I’m not sure that’s going to work. I know exactly what I need to do to secure my win. I hope that she can do more exchanges and go forward and chase that belt.”
Grasso vs. Shevchenko 3 is set to take place at UFC 306 on Sept. 14 at The Sphere. It’s safe to say “Bullet” will try to reclaim her throne, after coming short in their last fight that ended in a draw. On the other hand, Grasso is ready to correct her mistakes to secure another clean win this time.
Watch Grasso’s full interview below:
