LAS VEGAS – Valentina Shevchenko has one focus going right into a historic third assembly with Alexa Grasso at UFC 306, and that’s to make sure the judges don’t have a say within the outcome.
The previous ladies’s flyweight champ Shevchenko (23-4-1 MMA, 12-3-1 UFC) will share the octagon with present champ Grasso (16-3-1 MMA, 8-3-1 UFC) for the third consecutive time on Sept. 14 within the first stay sporting occasion at Sphere.
Shevchenko is at present 0-1-1 within the rivalry. At UFC 285, she was submitted in Spherical 4, dropping the title to Grasso and crowning her the primary Mexican girl to win a UFC title. The rematch occurred six months later at Noche UFC, however the outcome was a cut up draw.
To this present day, Shevchenko believes she received the battle and is closely vital of the scorecards, particularly choose Mike Bell’s 10-8 rating in Spherical 5, which led to a 47-47 draw complete on his card.
This time round, “Bullet” needs to keep away from the judges altogether.
“The priority is to complete the battle,” Shevchenko advised reporters at UFC 306 media day. “That is No. 1 what’s in my head. It’s like when to grab alternative, simply do what it’s a must to do, 100%. End the battle.”
The trilogy bout, just like the second assembly, takes place at a Noche UFC occasion, themed round Mexican Independence Day. This time, it’s “a love letter” to Mexico, as UFC CEO Dana White has dubbed the occasion. With Grasso being a Mexican champion, naturally, the gang might be closely in her favor.
Nonetheless, Shevchenko isn’t involved with the surface noise, as she’s needed to cope with that all through her profession. In actual fact, she remembers a time she needed to cope with antagonistic forces contained in the confined aggressive area.
“Undoubtedly like all my profession, I used to be preventing so many locations, so many alternative fighters of their dwelling nations like in opposition to not solely the opponent, crowd, however I had world muay Thai championship the place I needed to ‘battle’ in opposition to the referee,” Shevchenko defined.
“There was a lady referee who was truly doing every thing. I used to be preventing the ultimate with a Thai woman, and she or he was doing every thing like taking factors from me and prohibited permitted strategies, so she invented that I couldn’t do it. … It doesn’t matter what, I received the battle, and you already know, when she was elevating my arm, she stated, ‘You’re very fortunate.’ As a result of what she was making an attempt to do, it’s by no means labored.”
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