I projected Valentina Shevchenko as a % favorite ( implied odds) in this matchup, and I don't see value concerning either side of the. Considering how Grasso continues to improve in each fight, we can see her providing more problems and her confidence can help her win the. Shevchenko is a far better counter-striker and shevchenko vs grasso prediction when she's repelling a blitzkrieg. If Grasso can remain patient and force the ex-champion. While Grasso has gone the distance in 5 of the past 6 fights, she hasn't faced anyone quite as versatile as the champ. Shevchenko can do it with.
Alexa Grasso will be coming into this fight with a LOT of confidence and self-belief — and very rightfully so. Valentina Shevchenko is arguably the greatest female combat sports athlete to ever do it. That is not a controversial statement to make. However, she might well be on the downward trend of her fighting career as well.
You might be asking — why would I make such a controversial prediction. The Alexa Grasso fight showed that the new generation of female MMA is very rapidly catching up to her. In both fights against Santos and Grasso , Shevchenko looked as though she massively struggled with the power both punching and grappling of her newer foes. Many fighters have wilted in the face of Shevchenko's offense in the past, and have resorted to desperate grappling and flapping striking in order to try and cope.
Taila Santos and Alexa Grasso have shown the blueprint for how to get past this. Both fighters displayed dominantly powerful wrestling and confident, strident striking — and both got the best in my opinion of Shevchenko. Alexa Grasso is going to win this fight by replicating the blueprint of the first fight. The only thing that Grasso is going to have to tighten up on is her takedown defence.
The one area where Shevchenko had real success in the first fight was in taking down Grasso nearly at will — although she wasn't able to do much with it. Regardless, if Grasso can shut down those takedown attempts and replicate her form from the first fight, then she will have a very good chance of retaining her newly-won UFC flyweight championship.
For Valentina Shevchenko to win this fight, she kind of has to not do everything she did in the first fight. I know that prediction sounds like a little bit of an oversimplification, but it is an accurate one. Her takedowns were good, yes, but they didn't lead to anything.
She tried to stand and strike with Grasso and ate big shot after big shot. It was not a good game plan for Valentina. The only way Valentina is going to win this fight is by massively re-sharpening her striking. Shevchenko vs grasso prediction She is not powerful enough to out-grapple Grasso, and I also think that Grasso's cardio was a big problem for Shevchenko too.
Realistically, Shevchenko needs to get this done within the first two rounds. She's going to have to massively pressure Grasso and unload some of those trademark shots from her legendary arsenal of weaponry. If this fight goes beyond two rounds, then I think it becomes a much more difficult task for Shevchenko to win her UFC flyweight championship back. The reason that I am making this prediction is because I haven't seen any evidence that Valentina Shevchenko can adapt to the new generational threat that is currently in front of her.
Truthfully, Shevchenko got lucky in my opinion against Taila Santos, and she did not heed the warning when she was tasked with facing Alexa Grasso. Grasso fought a similar fight plan to that of Santos, and Shevchenko just did not have an answer for it. The movement, the sniper-like timing from Shevchenko was just not there. My prediction is that Alexa Grasso is going to have too much for Valentina Shevchenko, and that she will retain her UFC flyweight title.
Image Credit: UFC. Ultimately, I think Grasso is just going to be too durable and have too much for Valentina. Much like the first fight, I think Grasso is going to be very confident taking the centre of the octagon and sapping the energy of Shevchenko. Fremd has won two fights in a row, but against the bottom of the barrell fighters in Jamie Pickett and Sedriques Dumas.
Reed has terrible takedown defense, and a pretty good standup game so Godinez will have no problem wrestling and dominating on the ground if she wants. Reed won her last fight against Jinh Yu Frey, but Frey was able to get a couple takedowns and she was able to hold Reed down for a few minutes, but Reed was better on the feet.
Fernando Padilla had a great debut as he knocked out Julian Erosa, and I was amazed at how much better he looked in his debut than his previous fights in smaller promotions. He shows great patience for a 24 year old , and his clinch game is really good as he delivers fantastic knees to the body in close.
This is a great spot for Rosas to rebound after suffering his first loss in his last time out. Rosas got too excited in the first round and gassed himself trying to get the finish, and had no energy in rounds two and three and loss by decision. Rosas is young and made a big mistake in his last fight, but him and his team will rectify that, and I would expect a much more patient performance from him.
This should be a showcase fight for him to get back on the winning track. Jack Maddalena is undefeated in the UFC, but he got a scare in his last fight against short notice replacement Bassil Hafez who was able to take Maddalena down and avoid the elite boxing of Maddalena. Kevin Holland is coming off a great win against Chiesa in July where we quickly submitted Chiesa in the first round, and if he implements his wrestling and submission game, he might win pretty easily on the ground.
Alexa Grasso shocked Valentina Shevchenko when she submitted the Champ in March, and she comes in as the underdog here and I think Grasso wins again. Grasso won the first round on the feet, and then Shevchenko won the next two rounds. In round four, Schevchenko went for a spinning attack and Grasso caught her back and immediately grabbed the rear naked choke getting the win.
If Grasso can stuff an early takedown or two, it could demoralize Shevchenko and lead to Grasso pulling away on the feet. Login Sign Up Plays Logout. Type term s to start your search. An error occurred, please try again.