Matches to Make After Noche UFC

Noche UFC, dubbed that since it fell on Mexican Independence Day, was headlined by a very rare title bout in the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s Fight Night series. Newly minted UFC flyweight women's champion Alexa Grasso rematched the woman she had just dethroned in March of this year, Valentina Shevchenko.

Shevchenko is, based on one's perspective, either the greatest- or second-greatest female mixed martial arts fighter ever. Despite being a very undersized bantamweight when she first joined the UFC, Shevchenko immediately distinguished herself as an elite talent, dominating a prime Holly Holm and armbarring future bantamweight champion Julianna Pena in the second round. Her only two losses were close decisions to Amanda Nunes, with “a slight majority, myself included, feeling she won their rematch, a five-round duel for the bantamweight crown that went to Nunes by split decision. After Shevchenko dropped to the newly created UFC flyweight division, she enjoyed unprecedented success, dominating Joanna Jedrzejczyk before seven successful title defenses, a UFC WMMA record, with only the fight against Taila Santos close.

It took a superb gameplan and performance by Grasso to finally defeat the legendary champion. Long considered a talented fighter with perhaps the best pure boxing in all of WMMA, Grasso had never quite fulfilled her potential at strawweight, with her last outing there being a majority decision loss to Carla Esparza in front of a home crowd at Mexico City. However, after moving up to 125 pounds and improving her grappling, Grasso had been unstoppable, going a perfect 5-0, capped off with the amazing win against Shevchenko. Against her vaunted muay thai champion foe, Grasso had a slight edge in the striking while doing surprisingly well with her defensive grappling, stuffing many Shevchenko attempts and minimizing the damage when she was on her back. For all that, Grasso might have been still been losing on the cards when, late in Round 4, she took Shevchenko's back and locked in a rear-naked choke to complete the sensational upset and become the new queen of the division.

The rematch was one of the greatest women's fights ever, with constant twists, turns and drama. Shevchenko started out very strong, landing solid blows on the feet before attaining a takedown late in the frame. In the second round, Grasso knocked down and nearly finished her great foe, only to be taken down, with the challenger inflicting ground-and-pound. Round 3 was a big one for Shevchenko, nearly submitting Grasso with a guillotine, and the fourth could have gone either way, with both champions having their moments. Three and a half minutes into the final frame, Shevchenko appeared to have be on her way to retaining her title, easily winning the striking. However, she went for an ill-advised takedown and Grasso took her back, in a replay of the ending of their first fight. She wasn't able to lock in a rear-naked choke this time, but heavy ground-and-pound clearly won her a round she was previously losing. That turned out to be the difference in the fight, as the final scorecards were 48-47 Grasso, 48-47 Shevchenko, and 47-47 thanks to a perplexing 10-8 for Grasso in the last stanza, an anti-climactic draw.

In the co-main, top prospect Jack Della Maddalena battled the always exciting and tough Kevin Holland. Maddalena came into the fight a perfect 5-0 in the UFC, the first four being first-round finishes, but had lost a considerable amount of hype when he barely eked out a split decision against unheralded late replacement Bassil Hafez in his last appearance. Holland had bounced back from stoppage losses to divisional elites Khamzat Chimaev and Stephen Thompson last year with impressive wins over devastating striker Santiago Ponzinibbio by knockout and excellent grappler Michael Chiesa by submission.

The fight was 15 minutes of pure kickboxing, with nary a clinch and only a single takedown attempt. Maddalena conducted a very intelligent battle, expertly blocking most of Holland's punches to the head while connecting with powerful kicks and punches to the body and several excellent combinations upstairs. Holland's titanium chin was as tough as ever, and he had his moments, but Maddalena won a clear decision, 30-27 on my own card. One judge inexplicably had it for Holland, but Maddelena still garnered a split decision victory.

I now present several exciting future fights featuring this card's combatants:

Alexa Grasso vs. Valentina Shevchenko

I have mentioned multiple times in these columns that Erin Blanchfield is the clear No. 1 contender and should get a title shot against the winner of the Grasso-Shevchenko rematch. However, since there wasn't a winner, this is one of the times when an immediate rematch is warranted. Considering their first two meetings were classics, I'm excited for the rubber match, which should be another outstanding war.

Jack Della Maddalena vs. Sean Brady

Originally booked for UFC 290 in early July, this is still an excellent match-up that will tell us a lot about Maddelena. It will also be more sensible in terms of rankings, as No. 14 Maddelena has just defeated No. 13 Holland, drawing him closer to Brady's No. 9. Will Brady's takedowns, physical strength and submissions prove too much for Maddelena, or will the dynamite prospect's defensive grappling hold steady, allowing him to score another highlight reel knockout? It's a fascinating permutation of the striker versus grappler matchup and can propel Maddelena into serious title contendership with a win. If he loses, it's not a big blow either, as he just turned 27 and has plenty of opportunity to rebuild and improve.

Kevin Holland vs. Vicente Luque

Holland is endlessly entertaining, but he hasn't been able to crack the ranks of elite contenders, perennially coming up short, including at UFC Noche. However, there are no shortage of fun showdowns for him to engage in, with one of the best being against No. 10 ranked Vicente Luque. Despite both being skilled grapplers, Luque and Holland love going toe-to-toe and exchanging bombs on the feet, throwing caution to the wind. Holland has the tougher chin and a monstrous right cross, but Luque has power in both hands, more punches and sharper, more technical boxing overall. This could be a tremendous slugfest, rivaling or even surpassing many of the classic battles both men have treated us to, like Holland vs. Thompson or Luque vs. Barbarena.