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MMA reporter Ariel Helwani doesn’t believe that an immediate rematch between Valentina Shevchenko and Alexa Grasso is the right way for the UFC to go.
This past weekend, Grasso delivered one of the biggest upsets in recent memory. The Mexican secured her status as her nation’s first-ever female champion on MMA’s biggest stage — and in some style.
After a competitive opening three rounds against Shevchenko, who’d reigned on the 125-pound throne through seven successful defenses leading into UFC 285, Grasso made the most of her pre-fight training, completing a back take after a “Bullet” spinning attack that she had repeatedly drilled backstage.
And after taking Shevchenko down, Grasso forced a tap with a brutal-looking face crank.
Grasso’s upset victory was reminiscent of the recent scenario at bantamweight, which saw heavy underdog Julianna Peña submit Amanda Nunes inside T-Mobile Arena in December 2021. Like the Brazilian did, Shevchenko was quick to call for a quick chance at redemption.
But while her accolades and dominance in the division prior to Saturday night would appear to lend itself to an immediate rematch, Helwani doesn’t think it’s the best route.
Helwani Cites Peña/Nunes To Question Shevchenko Rematch
During the most recent episode of The MMA Hour, host Helwani reflected on the results at this past weekend’s blockbuster pay-per-view event.
After praising Grasso’s accomplishment in the co-main event, the Canadian journalist questioned whether an immediate second dance is the correct next step in the division.
While he noted that “Bullet” absolutely deserves as much, he suggested that it would risk diminishing the moment at UFC 285 in a similar vein to the two-fight series between Nunes and Peña at bantamweight.
“I was thinking about this… I don’t know. I actually feel like they shouldn’t do an immediate rematch. (But) they’re going to,” Helwani said. “I wonder if we should learn a lesson from the Julianna Peña-Amanda Nunes fight, where it’s like, alright, we have this incredible moment, you run it back, she loses, and it almost feels like that moment never happened anymore. You know what I mean?
“She (Shevchenko) deserves it, 1,000%… I feel like it’s incredibly disrespectful to Valentina to now make that decision. Historically, you have a long title reign, you’ve earned that shot,” Helwani continued. “But now that I’ve started to see this, and I’m like — it’s really the Peña moment… I hate to put this rule into place now, but there’s a part of me that feels with the Peña thing, they kinda ruined that. They could have had a run with Peña and they just went right back to the well… It’s a little unimaginative to just keep doing the immediate rematches.”
As well as outlining her intentions to quickly return to the throne inside the Octagon post-fight, Shevchenko displayed a similarly motivated mindset in her first statement on social media.
The claim that she was “dominating” the bout prior to the fight-ending mistake would appear to suggest that Shevchenko is putting her loss down to her own shortcomings in Las Vegas on March 4. That’s evidently something that she hopes to rectify in her next outing.
Fight doesn’t forget any mistake! Especially it feels frustrating when you was dominating all the fight. No excuses , only hard work ! Ready to start all over ?Love you all ??— Valentina Shevchenko (@BulletValentina) March 6, 2023
Do you agree with Ariel Helwani’s take on a possible rematch between Valentina Shevchenko and Alexa Grasso?
Please provide transcription credit with a link to this article if you use any of these quotes.
MMA reporter Ariel Helwani doesn’t believe that an immediate rematch between Valentina Shevchenko and Alexa Grasso is the right way for the UFC to go.
This past weekend, Grasso delivered one of the biggest upsets in recent memory. The Mexican secured her status as her nation’s first-ever female champion on MMA’s biggest stage — and in some style.
After a competitive opening three rounds against Shevchenko, who’d reigned on the 125-pound throne through seven successful defenses leading into UFC 285, Grasso made the most of her pre-fight training, completing a back take after a “Bullet” spinning attack that she had repeatedly drilled backstage.
And after taking Shevchenko down, Grasso forced a tap with a brutal-looking face crank.
Grasso’s upset victory was reminiscent of the recent scenario at bantamweight, which saw heavy underdog Julianna Peña submit Amanda Nunes inside T-Mobile Arena in December 2021. Like the Brazilian did, Shevchenko was quick to call for a quick chance at redemption.
But while her accolades and dominance in the division prior to Saturday night would appear to lend itself to an immediate rematch, Helwani doesn’t think it’s the best route.
Helwani Cites Peña/Nunes To Question Shevchenko Rematch
During the most recent episode of The MMA Hour, host Helwani reflected on the results at this past weekend’s blockbuster pay-per-view event.
After praising Grasso’s accomplishment in the co-main event, the Canadian journalist questioned whether an immediate second dance is the correct next step in the division.
While he noted that “Bullet” absolutely deserves as much, he suggested that it would risk diminishing the moment at UFC 285 in a similar vein to the two-fight series between Nunes and Peña at bantamweight.
“I was thinking about this… I don’t know. I actually feel like they shouldn’t do an immediate rematch. (But) they’re going to,” Helwani said. “I wonder if we should learn a lesson from the Julianna Peña-Amanda Nunes fight, where it’s like, alright, we have this incredible moment, you run it back, she loses, and it almost feels like that moment never happened anymore. You know what I mean?
“She (Shevchenko) deserves it, 1,000%… I feel like it’s incredibly disrespectful to Valentina to now make that decision. Historically, you have a long title reign, you’ve earned that shot,” Helwani continued. “But now that I’ve started to see this, and I’m like — it’s really the Peña moment… I hate to put this rule into place now, but there’s a part of me that feels with the Peña thing, they kinda ruined that. They could have had a run with Peña and they just went right back to the well… It’s a little unimaginative to just keep doing the immediate rematches.”
As well as outlining her intentions to quickly return to the throne inside the Octagon post-fight, Shevchenko displayed a similarly motivated mindset in her first statement on social media.
The claim that she was “dominating” the bout prior to the fight-ending mistake would appear to suggest that Shevchenko is putting her loss down to her own shortcomings in Las Vegas on March 4. That’s evidently something that she hopes to rectify in her next outing.
Fight doesn’t forget any mistake!
Especially it feels frustrating when you was dominating all the fight.
No excuses , only hard work !
Ready to start all over ?
Love you all ??
— Valentina Shevchenko (@BulletValentina) March 6, 2023[/quote]
Do you agree with Ariel Helwani’s take on a possible rematch between Valentina Shevchenko and Alexa Grasso?
Please provide transcription credit with a link to this article if you use any of these quotes.
Click here to view the article.
This past weekend, Grasso delivered one of the biggest upsets in recent memory. The Mexican secured her status as her nation’s first-ever female champion on MMA’s biggest stage — and in some style.
After a competitive opening three rounds against Shevchenko, who’d reigned on the 125-pound throne through seven successful defenses leading into UFC 285, Grasso made the most of her pre-fight training, completing a back take after a “Bullet” spinning attack that she had repeatedly drilled backstage.
And after taking Shevchenko down, Grasso forced a tap with a brutal-looking face crank.
Grasso’s upset victory was reminiscent of the recent scenario at bantamweight, which saw heavy underdog Julianna Peña submit Amanda Nunes inside T-Mobile Arena in December 2021. Like the Brazilian did, Shevchenko was quick to call for a quick chance at redemption.
But while her accolades and dominance in the division prior to Saturday night would appear to lend itself to an immediate rematch, Helwani doesn’t think it’s the best route.
Helwani Cites Peña/Nunes To Question Shevchenko Rematch
During the most recent episode of The MMA Hour, host Helwani reflected on the results at this past weekend’s blockbuster pay-per-view event.
After praising Grasso’s accomplishment in the co-main event, the Canadian journalist questioned whether an immediate second dance is the correct next step in the division.
While he noted that “Bullet” absolutely deserves as much, he suggested that it would risk diminishing the moment at UFC 285 in a similar vein to the two-fight series between Nunes and Peña at bantamweight.
“I was thinking about this… I don’t know. I actually feel like they shouldn’t do an immediate rematch. (But) they’re going to,” Helwani said. “I wonder if we should learn a lesson from the Julianna Peña-Amanda Nunes fight, where it’s like, alright, we have this incredible moment, you run it back, she loses, and it almost feels like that moment never happened anymore. You know what I mean?
“She (Shevchenko) deserves it, 1,000%… I feel like it’s incredibly disrespectful to Valentina to now make that decision. Historically, you have a long title reign, you’ve earned that shot,” Helwani continued. “But now that I’ve started to see this, and I’m like — it’s really the Peña moment… I hate to put this rule into place now, but there’s a part of me that feels with the Peña thing, they kinda ruined that. They could have had a run with Peña and they just went right back to the well… It’s a little unimaginative to just keep doing the immediate rematches.”
As well as outlining her intentions to quickly return to the throne inside the Octagon post-fight, Shevchenko displayed a similarly motivated mindset in her first statement on social media.
The claim that she was “dominating” the bout prior to the fight-ending mistake would appear to suggest that Shevchenko is putting her loss down to her own shortcomings in Las Vegas on March 4. That’s evidently something that she hopes to rectify in her next outing.
Fight doesn’t forget any mistake! Especially it feels frustrating when you was dominating all the fight. No excuses , only hard work ! Ready to start all over ?Love you all ??— Valentina Shevchenko (@BulletValentina) March 6, 2023
Do you agree with Ariel Helwani’s take on a possible rematch between Valentina Shevchenko and Alexa Grasso?
Please provide transcription credit with a link to this article if you use any of these quotes.
This past weekend, Grasso delivered one of the biggest upsets in recent memory. The Mexican secured her status as her nation’s first-ever female champion on MMA’s biggest stage — and in some style.
After a competitive opening three rounds against Shevchenko, who’d reigned on the 125-pound throne through seven successful defenses leading into UFC 285, Grasso made the most of her pre-fight training, completing a back take after a “Bullet” spinning attack that she had repeatedly drilled backstage.
And after taking Shevchenko down, Grasso forced a tap with a brutal-looking face crank.
Grasso’s upset victory was reminiscent of the recent scenario at bantamweight, which saw heavy underdog Julianna Peña submit Amanda Nunes inside T-Mobile Arena in December 2021. Like the Brazilian did, Shevchenko was quick to call for a quick chance at redemption.
But while her accolades and dominance in the division prior to Saturday night would appear to lend itself to an immediate rematch, Helwani doesn’t think it’s the best route.
Helwani Cites Peña/Nunes To Question Shevchenko Rematch
During the most recent episode of The MMA Hour, host Helwani reflected on the results at this past weekend’s blockbuster pay-per-view event.
After praising Grasso’s accomplishment in the co-main event, the Canadian journalist questioned whether an immediate second dance is the correct next step in the division.
While he noted that “Bullet” absolutely deserves as much, he suggested that it would risk diminishing the moment at UFC 285 in a similar vein to the two-fight series between Nunes and Peña at bantamweight.
“I was thinking about this… I don’t know. I actually feel like they shouldn’t do an immediate rematch. (But) they’re going to,” Helwani said. “I wonder if we should learn a lesson from the Julianna Peña-Amanda Nunes fight, where it’s like, alright, we have this incredible moment, you run it back, she loses, and it almost feels like that moment never happened anymore. You know what I mean?
“She (Shevchenko) deserves it, 1,000%… I feel like it’s incredibly disrespectful to Valentina to now make that decision. Historically, you have a long title reign, you’ve earned that shot,” Helwani continued. “But now that I’ve started to see this, and I’m like — it’s really the Peña moment… I hate to put this rule into place now, but there’s a part of me that feels with the Peña thing, they kinda ruined that. They could have had a run with Peña and they just went right back to the well… It’s a little unimaginative to just keep doing the immediate rematches.”
As well as outlining her intentions to quickly return to the throne inside the Octagon post-fight, Shevchenko displayed a similarly motivated mindset in her first statement on social media.
The claim that she was “dominating” the bout prior to the fight-ending mistake would appear to suggest that Shevchenko is putting her loss down to her own shortcomings in Las Vegas on March 4. That’s evidently something that she hopes to rectify in her next outing.
Fight doesn’t forget any mistake!
Especially it feels frustrating when you was dominating all the fight.
No excuses , only hard work !
Ready to start all over ?
Love you all ??
— Valentina Shevchenko (@BulletValentina) March 6, 2023[/quote]
Do you agree with Ariel Helwani’s take on a possible rematch between Valentina Shevchenko and Alexa Grasso?
Please provide transcription credit with a link to this article if you use any of these quotes.
Click here to view the article.
