Josh Thomson labeled Valentina Shevchenko a “sore loser” after the latter’s reaction to the scorecards for her fight against Alexa Grasso.
On Saturday night, September 16, Shevchenko fought Grasso in an immediate rematch for the UFC women’s flyweight title. After five rounds of action, ‘Bullet’ was confident she had done enough to regain her throne.
Unfortunately for Shevchenko, the judges scored the Noche UFC main event a split-decision draw. The result is considered highly controversial due to Mike Bell changing the outcome by giving Grasso a 10-8 for round five, which most people believe was undeserved.
Shevchenko voiced her frustration for the scorecards during the post-fight press conference. ‘Bullet’ accused the judges, especially Mike Bell, of being biased toward Grasso, a Guadalajara native, because it was Mexican Independence Day with a pro-Mexican crowd.
The former UFC women’s flyweight champion’s comments rubbed Josh Thomson the wrong way. During a recent episode of Weighing In, Thomson had this to say about Shevchenko:
“I learned last night that she [Shevchenko] is a little bit of a sore loser, that’s what I’ve learned…She’s like, ‘well, I felt like I won the fight, but they gave it to her because of Mexican Independence Day.’ I was like, wow, wow. No, no, you lost the fight. It was actually really just a draw. It was a good fight. It was a close fight back-and-forth.”
Josh Thomson and ‘Big’ John McCarthy believe Valentina Shevchenko doesn’t deserve an immediate rematch
Due to Mike Bell’s controversial scorecard, a debate has been sparked about whether or not Valentina Shevchenko deserves another immediate rematch. On one hand, Shevchenko arguably should have been awarded the win if it wasn’t for the 10-8 round.
Meanwhile, ‘Bullet’ has failed to defeat Alexa Grasso on back-to-back attempts. Therefore, the women’s 125-pound division could potentially be stalled due to a trilogy matchup for the title.
During the same episode of Weighing In, Josh Thomson and ‘Big’ John McCarthy gave their opinions on what should be next for Grasso. McCarthy started by saying:
“Absolutely not. That’s two in a row. It was close. Yeah, it is a draw, but you gotta let other blood come in there and have a shot at that title. You can always bring Valentina back, but you need to allow the rest of the people there…Now you got submitted and now you have one that it was close, it was a draw, but I gotta let somebody else have a shot at that title, gotta bring some new life, new blood into it.”
Thomson agreed with the following response:
“I agree with you. I don’t wanna see that fight again. Not right now.”
If Shevchenko doesn’t get another opportunity, the next women’s flyweight title challenger would be Manon Fiorot or Erin Blanchfield. Some fans believe Fiorot and Blanchfield should compete in a number-once contender bout while ‘Bullet fights Grasso again, but it’s unclear what the UFC plans to do.
Watch the full episode of Weighing In below:
