LAS VEGAS — Ultimate Fighting Championship’s (UFC) women’s Flyweight division is set to have its first title trilogy.
The Ultimate Fighter 32 (TUF) will feature a cast of eight Middleweights and eight Featherweights coached by UFC Flyweight champion, Alexa Grasso, and former titlist, Valentina Shevchenko, with filming starting tomorrow (Tues., March 12, 2024). The finale of the season is expected to take place in June. As for the title fight trilogy between the coaches and 125-pound rivals, there’s no official date yet. The expectation is for Grasso vs. Shevchenko 3 to happen at UFC 306 inside The Sphere, celebrating Mexican Independence Day weekend (Sat., Sept. 14, 2024).
The pair’s rematch took place at Noche UFC for the promotion’s first celebration of the holiday, which resulted in a thrilling split draw (watch highlights) that left Grasso ahead in the series 1-0-1. For part three, the challenger, Shevchenko, believes it’s time to even out the playing field after the first two encounters in Las Vegas.
“I think [it would be] more fair if one for her, one for me,” Shevchenko said at TUF 32 media day. “We fought on Mexican Independence Day before. Now we have to find something with Kyrgyzstan.
“Even now, I was briefly looking through the [TUF] fighters,” she continued. “We have a Mexican fighter, but we don’t have a Kyrgyzstan fighter. So, it has to be one for her, one for me so that this is a fair game (laughs).”
It will have been nearly one full year since Grasso vs. Shevchenko 2 by the time they compete again if it does indeed happen at UFC 306. Whether it does or doesn’t, the trilogy won’t happen until the second half of 2024 thanks to the extension from TUF 32.
Despite typically liking to stay active, Shevchenko, 36, feels the timing was perfect in this case as she required surgery after the Grasso rematch in September 2023.
“Timewise, I think it’s good because I’m just recently coming from the hand surgery. I still have the scar on my thumb,” Shevchenko said. “So, timewise, I think it’s good. I will not have to force myself in terms of preparation because if you force yourself and just rush in, it’s gonna happen that you [get] injured again and it’s gonna delay everything for even more time.”