Alexa Grasso recently named potential opponents she would like to face if she wins against Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 306.
Grasso will put the women’s flyweight title on the line in a three-fight series against Shevchenko in the co-main event of UFC 306 on Saturday at the Sphere in Las Vegas. Ideally, Grasso would like to win every fight in the flyweight division, but the Mexican isn’t thinking about anyone other than “Bullet.”
Grasso, who is currently the No. 1 women’s pound-for-pound ranked fighter in the UFC rankings, named strawweight champion and No. 2 ranked fighter Zhang Weili Zhang as her dream opponent.
“A fight with Weili Zhang is a dream come true for me,” Grasso told Stake.com. “It would be one of the biggest fights ever. She’s strong, powerful and well-rounded. She’s a great fighter and I’ve even heard she wants to test herself at 125 pounds, so I’m excited to welcome her.”
Currently seeking her second strawweight title, Zhang submitted Carla Esparza to win the title and then defended it by unanimous decision against Amanda Lemos and Xiaonan Yan. The Chinese star has also expressed interest in moving up to flyweight.
UFC 306: O’Malley vs. Dvalishvili airs Saturday at 10pm ET on ESPN+. Order now!
As for Grasso’s own weight class, the champion isn’t having a hard time choosing between two potential contenders, with Grasso considering Manon Fiorot clearly a more deserving title contender than former strawweight champion Rose Namajunas.
“I’m not one to pick and choose these things, but I think Manon Fiorot deserves the title fight more than Rose,” Grasso said. “She’s been in the division longer, she’s got a longer winning streak, she was the runner-up before she got injured, so I want to fight Fiorot.”
After losing the belt to Carla Esparza, Namajunas moved up to flyweight and lost a unanimous decision to Fiorot in her division debut last year. “The Thug” then bounced back with consecutive unanimous decision wins over Amanda Rivas and Tracy Cortez.
Meanwhile, Fiorot is undefeated since her professional debut in 2018, with seven wins at UFC. The French fighter would have already fought Grasso for the title if she hadn’t injured her arm during her unanimous decision win over Erin Blanchfield in March this year. Grasso wants to become a double champion, but her friends in other weight classes are getting in the way of her plans. Strawweight Lupy Godinez and bantamweight Irene Aldana train with Grasso at RoboGym MMA in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Grasso’s plans to become a double champion will have to wait, as the gym wants to produce one champion in every weight class.
“I would like to become a two-division champion. It’s a big challenge and goal for me,” Grasso said, “but I have friends in the higher weight classes, like Loopy Godinez at strawweight and Irene Aldana at bantamweight, and our team’s goal is for us all to be champions in our respective weight classes, so I have to put that dream on hold for now.”
