UFC 315 goes down on May 10th from Montreal and we are starting to learn about some of the fights that’ll go down at the PPV. Tonight, the promotion announced that former flyweight champion Alexa Grasso (16-4-1) is set to make her return against fifth ranked contender Natalia Silva (18-5-1).
Starting with Natalia Silva, this is a golden opportunity for the Brazilian to insert herself into the title picture at 125. Silva had a rough start to her professional career going 6-5-1 in her first 12 fights. A loss to Marina Rodriguez back in 2017 dropped her to that record but since then, she’s been flawless.
Silva won six fights in a row including becoming the Jungle Fight flyweight champion. That led her to signing with the UFC. She debuted with a win that continues to age well in a decision win over Jasmine Jasudavicius. From there, she’s won five more fights including a decision win over former champion Jessica Andrade. A win over Grasso should earn her a title shot.
UFC 315
That said, defeating Alexa Grasso is a lot easier said than done. Grasso began her career at strawweight and while she was a solid contender, she never found herself in title contention. Grasso moved up to flyweight and that changed her career. Grasso won her first four fights at flyweight which earned her a shot against Valentina Shevchenko.
At the time, Shevchenko was going for her eighth title defense. In the fourth round of their fight, Grasso capitalized on a Shevchenko mistake and it led to Grasso picking up the fourth round submission to become UFC flyweight champion. Grasso and Shevchenko ran things back and they fought to a controversial draw.
In their trilogy fight last September, Shevchenko won a convincing decision and despite the series being 1-1-1, the promotion moved on and Shevchenko will get a new opponent as will Grasso. That said, if Grasso can defeat Silva in May, I’m expecting her to fight for the flyweight title once again, probably in September at the next Noche UFC.