UFC Vegas 62: UFC Apex; Las Vegas
It may not have been as exciting as any of her five-first round knockouts, but Alexa Grasso keeps chugging along in the flyweight division. Since coming up from strawweight, she’s now on a four-fight win streak.
Does this grant her the ticket to jump the queue and challenge Valentina Shevchenko right now? No. However, all the signs are starting to show that she’s coming into her own. The unanimous decision win (50-45, 49-46 2x) over Viviane Araujo saw some ups and downs.
Like most Mexican fighters, they rely on hand speed and crisp striking. That was in full effect. The 29-year old also showed an ever improving takedown defense. Something that will need to be at an even higher level if she hopes to dethrone “Bullet”. And her countering is getting better as well.
If something needed to be nit-picked to work on, is there was a lack of feinting in her first main event slot. But if there was a pound-for-pound striking list in MMA, she’d be on it.
Alexa Grasso Keeps Chugging Along… Who’s Her Next Test?
No doubt next week she will be watching with an interested eye, the fight between former title challenger Katlyn Chookagian and Manon Fiorot. Both provide interesting styles for her. “Blonde Fighter” has four inches on her but a common two-inch reach advantage. Chookagain has an average ground game, but lacks a killer instinct to get finishes. She’ll rely on striking at distance, but Grasso’s pressure would smother her.
“Beast” doesn’t have that issue. She has rolled nine-in-a-row and has picked up six-knockouts. And Fiorot has no ground game to concern Grasso. So it’s unlikely these two will do anything other than stay in the phonebooth and slug it out.
While Grasso didn’t “callout” anyone by name, there’s still a better opponent for her right now to see how she stands up to the best of the division. Lauren Murphy is an absolute dog. She’d gladly mix things up with Grasso on the feet, and would try to test her on the ground as well.
But all this is left in the hands of the matchmakers and Dana White. Just don’t be too surprised if by the end of 2023, there’s a female Mexican champion in the UFC.
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