Former UFC flyweight ruler and current ONE flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson has a hard time predicting the rematch between Alexa Grasso and Valentina Shevchenko.
Grasso will put the UFC women’s flyweight gold on the line against Shevchenko in the Noche UFC main event. Grasso captured the 125-pound gold back in March with a fourth-round submission victory over “Bullet.” Shevchenko has insisted that the loss was due to her own mistake, while Grasso says the win was no fluke.
What Alexa Grasso Did Well In The First Fight
Before big MMA fights, Johnson likes to break things down on his YouTube channel. That’s exactly what he did in a new video, and he went back to the first bout between Grasso and Shevchenko. “Mighty Mouse” explained what was working for the Lobo Gym standout before she locked in a face crank to capture gold.
“She was going from orthodox to southpaw,” Johnson said. “When she was going southpaw, that’s when she did most of her best work with landing that cross from the southpaw position, the two and the three, and she did a good job at darting in and out. When she was doing that, she always kept Shevchenko backing up trying to counter, and when she would do that, Alexa Grasso would do a good job at sometimes continuing to pursue Shevchenko. That’s when she hurt her, I believe it was the second round, with that left hand from the southpaw position.”
What Valentina Shevchenko Did Well In The First Fight
Johnson then looked at the other side of the coin with Shevchenko’s success before ultimately tapping out. “Mighty Mouse” was in awe of “Bullet’s” takedowns.
“She also did a good job when she made the adjustments of a beautiful double leg takedown,” Johnson said. “Her elevation change when she would shoot down for the takedown, she would successfully land those takedowns every single time she shot the double leg against Alexa Grasso. The thing that she does well is she goes for position before submission and punches.”
Demetrious Johnson Has Trouble Making A Prediction
Johnson believes that both Grasso and Shevchenko are so good at making adjustments in their fights that he’s left unsure of who he thinks will win the rematch.
“This one’s very hard to break down,” Johnson said. “When I broke down the Strickland vs. Izzy fight, I was very confident that Izzy was going to beat Sean Strickland. Now, when it comes to Alexa Grasso vs. Shevchenko, I have a hard time picking a clear-cut winner. The reason why is because they’re both so damn good. They both can fight everywhere and they both make adjustments during the fight. In their previous fight, Shevchenko realized that, ‘I can dominate her on the ground.’ Grasso realized that she can have the better of the exchanges in the southpaw position.”
Ultimately, Johnson did ended up making a prediction for Alexa Grasso vs. Valentina Shevchenko 2. He said that he feels Grasso is gritty and has a tight boxing stance, and isn’t afraid of Shevchenko’s striking. Johnson also feels Grasso can build off her success in the southpaw position. This has led to Johnson picking Grasso to defeat Shevchenko a second time by the slimmest of margins.
Here is the video of Demetrious Johnson’s breakdown of the Noche UFC main event:
