Alexa Grasso, the first Mexican woman to be crowned champion in the history of the UFC, dreamed of fighting in Las Vegas one day. And not only will the flyweight champion fight in “Sin City,” she will be headlining a card on the weekend of Sept. 16, a date usually reserved for the likes of Mexican boxing legends Oscar de la Hoya, Julio Cesar Chavez and Canelo Alvarez.
She will defend her crown against Valentina Shevchenko in a rematch of their title fight from last March. Grasso (16-3) won the flyweight championship in shocking fashion via submission in the fourth round against Shevchenko (23-4) to earn her fifth straight win.
“I was incredibly excited and now I get to headline a Fight Night and at T-Mobile Arena so it feels like a dream come true,” Grasso, 29, said.
The card at T-Mobile Arena is filled with the best Mexican talent available to the UFC. The co-main event will feature Mexican American Kelvin Gastelum against Shavkat Rakhmonov in a welterweight duel.
The UFC is making a clear play for the Latino audience, and UFC President Dana White has been flirting with the idea of having more events highlighting Mexican fighters. After UFC 290 in Las Vegas where Mexicans Yair Rodriguez and Brandon Morena both lost their title, White praised the Mexican fans that traveled to cheer on their countrymen and complimented the new UFC facility for training being opened in Mexico City later this year.
For her part, Grasso says she knows this will be a difficult fight because Shevchenko will take what she learned from her mistakes in the fourth round that led to her defeat. Shevchenko exposed her back to Grasso, who took full advantage by submitting her with the use of a move called the “guillotine.”
“I’m very interested in what she does, if she is going to fight standing up or go down to the mat,” said Grasso. “I don’t know what her plan is, but I am training really hard and I’m covering all the bases.”
She also acknowledged the challenge of now being the champion and how that affects the mental aspect of the fight.
El duelo de este miércoles arranca a las 7:30 p.m. (AppleTV, TUDN) en la cancha del LAFC.
“There is one thing being the challenger and saying ‘I want that belt’ versus trying to protect what you already earned,” added Grasso. “I have to be stronger, more disciplined and more responsible to keep this belt.”
The card also features two up-and-coming Mexican American fighters in Tracy Cortez against Jasmine Jasudavicius in the flyweight division and Cynthia Calvillo against Elise Reed in the strawweight category.
The Latinx experience chronicled
Get the Latinx Files newsletter for stories that capture the multitudes within our communities.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
