Preview! ‘No Mercy’ At Noche UFC

UFC women’s flyweight champion Alexa Grasso will defend her 125-pound strap against former division titleholder Valentina Shevchenko in the Noche UFC five-round headliner on the ESPN+ digital network TONIGHT (Sat., Sept. 16, 2023) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Check out their “No Mercy” video preview embedded above.

Grasso defeated Shevchenko to win the flyweight title at UFC 285 back in March.

“It’s kind of a moment to work double hard and remember what you did in the beginning,” Shevchenko said during a special Noche UFC athlete panel. “It’s kind of like yes, everyone is speaking about the loss, but I want to remind everyone I’m a 17-time Muay Thai world champion, seven (UFC) title defenses, and you can’t get rid of this. It’s going to stay in you forever. You can do adjustments and do better and whatever you want to do, but the power the confidence and experience it’s still here, and it’s going to explode on Saturday.”

“Well, round one was definitely mine,” Grasso countered. “The second round, even being a Muay Thai champion, I thought you wanted to strike with me, but you decided to go to the ground, so it’s fine. Fourth round, I made a lot of adjustments and I think it was 2-2. For me, it was 2-2.”

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire Noche UFC fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the ESPN+ preliminary card bouts at 7 p.m. ET, followed by the ESPN+ main card start time at 10 p.m. ET.

To check out the latest and greatest Noche UFC news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive here. For the updated and finalized “Grasso vs. Shevchenko 2” fight card and ESPN+ line up click here.