Dana White and Others Trash the UFC Champion’s Performance at Noche UFC

UFC president Dana White and others weren’t kind in their assessments of Noche UFC’s co-main event, which saw Valentina Shevchenko regain her UFC flyweight championship over Alexa Grasso at The Sphere in Las Vegas.

Combat sports fans love the punch, and the only thing that will help them resist the urge to see kicks, punches, elbows and knees is the magic of submission. Not many fans can appreciate the skill required in securing takedowns and maintaining position.

Unfortunately, that’s the path Shevchenko chose to take back her championship on Saturday. Shevchenko used her superior grappling, strength and overall athleticism to dominate Grasso through all five rounds of their third and likely final meeting. While Shevchenko further cemented her place as one of the all-time greats and a future Hall-of-Famer, her workmanlike approach failed to wow the crowd.

Shevchenko secured eight takedowns and enjoyed nearly 17 minutes of floor control time. Grasso did her best to be dangerous to her back. She tried multiple submissions, but Shevchenko was too prepared, smart and strong to be in any real danger of submission. How rare was the hit in the joint event?

Shevchenko and Grasso combined for 63 significant strikes. In comparison, the fight that won the Fight of the Night between Estevan Ribovics and Daniel Zellhuber had 277 significant strikes. I’m a combat sports fanatic who appreciates the fight sequences as much as the kicking, so it was incredible to see it from my perspective.

However, I know I’m in the minority when it comes to my varied appetite for combat sports. During the post-fight presser, White told the media that he hoped the spectacle of The Sphere would help attract new fans to the UFC, but he also hoped they had stopped watching before the Shevchenko-Grasso fight.

In response to the lack of crowd engagement during the joint event, White also said, “You can control how much you spend on producing an event, but you can’t control the fights.” In all fairness to Shevchenko and Grasso, White didn’t seem enamored of the action in the main event.

He said he thought Sean O’Malley looked “flat,” and White questioned some of Merab Dvalishvili’s antics in the Octagon.

Grasso did not escape the wrath of the MMA community. She received some harsh criticism from her teammate Diego Lopes, who won his fight against Brian Ortega.

During Lopes’ post-event interview, he was asked about Grasso’s performance, and he said she “froze.” In his response, Lopes also highlighted the lack of action from both fighters. Typically, you wouldn’t hear a fighter publicly criticize a training partner’s performance, but Lopes had time early Sunday morning.

It wasn’t just the Warriors and White calling out the lack of aggression. Matthew Wells of MMA Junkie said Grasso lacked aggression, but praised Shevchenko’s execution of the game plan. Senior MMA reporter Luke Thomas called the fight “disappointing” and said Shevchenko “wouldn’t open up and Grasso couldn’t do it.”

Based on how decisive Shevchenko’s win was on Saturday night, the lack of a knockout, and the fact that Saturday’s meeting was the third between the two women, I don’t think we’ll ever see these two fight again – the other.

Here’s a look at all the results from Noche UFC.

Noche UFC 306 Main Card Results

• Merab Dvalishvili def. Sean O’Malley by unanimous decision (48-47×2, 49-46)
• Valentina Shevchenko def. Alexa Grasso by unanimous decision (50-45×3)
• Diego Lopes defeats Brian Ortega by unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27)
• Esteban Ribovics defeats Daniel Zellhuber by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Ronaldo Rodriguez defeats Ode Osbourne by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-27, 29-27)

UFC 306 preliminary card results

• Norma Dumont defeats Irene Aldanan by unanimous decision (30-27 x 3)
• Ignacio Bahamondes defeats Manuel Torres by TKO at 4:02 of Round 1
• Ketlen Souza defeats Yazmin Jauregui via submission at 3:02 of round 1 (rear naked choke)
• Joshua Van defeats Edgar Chairez by unanimous decision (29-28 x3)

UFC 306 preliminary card results

• Raul Rosas Jr. defeated Aoriqileng by unanimous decision (29-28 x 3)