The highly anticipated next season of “The Ultimate Fighter” will see two of the top women’s fighters, UFC women’s flyweight champion Alexa Grasso and former champ Valentina Shevchenko, coaching against each other. UFC CEO Dana White took to social media to announce that the show will premiere on June 4 on ESPN. Both Grasso and Shevchenko are already in Las Vegas for the filming, set to begin next week.
The 32nd season of the reality series will feature fighters from the featherweight and middleweight divisions. The winners of each of the tournaments will have the opportunity to earn a UFC contract. Following the end of the show, Grasso and Shevchenko are expected to face each other in a fight, as is customary for the coaches. However, no official bout has been scheduled as of yet.
Speculations are stating that the most likely landing spot for the anticipated trilogy fight between Grasso and Shevchenko is UFC 306, scheduled for September 14 at the Sphere in Las Vegas. This event will coincide with Mexican Independence Day, a fitting celebration as Grasso is the UFC’s first Mexican-born women’s champion.
Alexa Grasso, with a record of 16-3-1, is currently on a six-fight winning streak. She claimed the title by defeating Shevchenko via submission at UFC 285 in March 2023. Making the move to flyweight from strawweight in 2020, the 30-year-old fighter has shown remarkable success in her new division.
Valentina Shevchenko, on the other hand, had a nine-fight winning streak broken by Grasso last year. With a record of 23-4-1, the fighter from Kyrgyzstan holds the record for the most consecutive title defenses at flyweight in UFC history. At 36 years old, Shevchenko is widely regarded as one of the greatest women’s MMA fighters of all time.
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