Kamaru Usman thinks Alexa Grasso will enter her rematch with Valentina Shevchenko even more confident.
Flyweight champion Grasso (16-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC) runs things back with Shevchenko (23-4 MMA, 12-3 UFC) in Saturday’s Noche UFC main event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The event streams on ESPN+.
After seven title defenses, Shevchenko was dethroned by Grasso, who submitted her in Round 4 of their title fight at UFC 285 in March. Grasso initially wanted one more fight before a title shot, but ended up getting the call to compete for the belt.
“When you’re fighting someone who’s not exactly supposed to be in there right now at that time and you let them hang around long enough, and they start to build that confidence that they do belong in here, you find yourself in a fist fight or some type of situation you don’t want to be in,” Usman said on ESPN’s “DC & RC.” “That is this case to a ‘T.’
“Alexa Grasso, who at the time I believe was ranked No. 3 and got the opportunity to fight because Valentina had ran through the entire division, when she got in there, she took full advantage of that opportunity because looking at that fight, who thought Valentina Shevchenko was going to lose to Alexa Grasso?”
From personal experience having lost to Leon Edwards twice in a row, former welterweight champion Usman expects Grasso to have the mental edge over Shevchenko.
“This is one of those things, now, with the rematch, it becomes even harder to try and get that belt off of these contenders,” Usman said. “They jump in there as just contenders, they leave as champion. That’s a whole aother confidence they have now in thinking and saying to themselves, ‘Oh, I was the best all along. I just needed the opportunity.'”
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