| | | | | | | |
| Women's Flyweight | Alexa Grasso (c) | vs. | Valentina Shevchenko | Draw (split) (48–47, 47–48, 47–47) | 5 | 5:00 | |
| Welterweight | Jack Della Maddalena | def. | Kevin Holland | Decision (split) (28–29, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Bantamweight | Raúl Rosas Jr. | def. | Terrence Mitchell | TKO (punches) | 1 | 0:54 | |
| Lightweight | Daniel Zellhuber | def. | Christos Giagos | Submission (anaconda choke) | 2 | 3:26 | |
| Featherweight | Kyle Nelson | def. | Fernando Padilla | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
I did not watch it, so no commentary from me.
- Fight of the Night: No bonus awarded.
- Performance of the Night: Raúl Rosas Jr., Daniel Zellhuber, Lupita Godinez, Roman Kopylov, and Charlie Campbell
The Zellhuber/Giagos fight was okay, but I missed most of it because I was in-and-out cooking my chicken on the grill. The same thing with the Nelson/Padilla fight. That Zellhuber kid may have a good future, he is tall and big for the division.
Rosas/Mitchell went at it, it was really fun to watch. It sucks that Mitchell did not get a bonus either despite losing, lol. Rosas looked much better in this fight, but it was quick in the first round. He needs to take his time climbing the ladder. Mitchell has a decent record, but is not close to a top fighter.
JDM and Holland was a technical stand-up fight...well, JDM was, and Holland did his usual stand-up mixing up kicks and strikes in his unique fashion. It was a close fight, I actually thought it could have gone either way, but i'd have to watch it again. Same thing with Holland....he has a good ground game, but he did not utilize it all. He went for 1 quick takedown or level-change, and that was it. He is good on the feet, but if he added in more takedown attempts and some ground game, his opponent would be guessing more and it would make Holland even more unpredictable. The crowd did not like the decision. I just feel like Holland keeps screwing himself by not opening up his fighting skills everywhere.
I'm surprised Grasso/Valentina did not get FOTN honors. It was a close fight. God, I could write a lot on this.
-That 10-8 round for Grasso for the 5th was complete BS! It is one of the worse scores i've ever seen by a judge for a round. There is NO way it was a 10-8 round. I hope they investigate what the heck he was thinking. Valentina dominated the first 4 minutes with the stand-up, she then went for a takedown and Grasso reversed it, almost identical to their first fight, like total Deja Vu. Grasso got her back, and then flipped her over into a body triangle. She went for a choke but was unsuccessful. So the round was finished strong by Grasso, for a whole minute, but no real GnP, and she did not get the choke.
Round 1 was Valentina
Round 2 was Grasso. She had a good round, but Valentina finished the last minute or so with a takedown.
Round 3 was for sure Valentina.
Round 4 was really close. It could have went either way, and i'd have to rewatch it. Grasso had the more dominate period in the round, but it was off of a Valentina mistake of the rules where she put her hand down to not get kneed/kicked, but because they were in the process of going back (somebody else can explain this better than me, lol), it was not in the rules. As a result, Grasso got some knees and punches in, but then Valentina regained control IIRC.
Grasso's punches were more effective in terms of power. Sort of like a Chito scenario, I guess. However, Valentina cracked Grasso open (I believe in the 3rd or 4th) with an elbow and thus there appeared to be more damage to Grasso. Grasso, outside of a solid shot in the 2nd, was losing every round, but she capitalized on a few of Valentina's mistakes....pretty much Valentina allowed to to score points due to her own mistakes....sort of, lol. Not saying that Grasso never got shots in, she did.
A few notes:
-At the beginning, Valentina looked more nervous than i've ever seen her. I think she felt the pressure. She settled in quickly though once the fight started.
-To me, Grasso appeared to be tiring out the 4th and 5th rounds, much more lethargic looking to me than the prior rounds. Valentina looked more tired in-between the final rounds, but in the fight, she looked fine.
-The 5th round, the 10-8 score....not sure how somebody could get a 10-8 round for taking the back of somebody for like 60 seconds or less, but then in the earlier rounds when Valentina did the same (more than once), it was not the same?
@jipped genes if you get around to watching this, i'd love to see your thoughts. It was a close fight though.
