Along with the return of a former champion seeking another title, UFC 285 will have a second championship bout in March.
Women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko (23-3 MMA, 12-2 UFC) will put her title on the line against challenger Alexa Grasso (15-3 MMA, 7-3 UFC) at the March 4 event T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. MMA Junkie confirmed the matchup with a person with knowledge of the booking after an initial report from UFC broadcast partner ESPN.
Unless another title fight is added, Shevchenko-Grasso will be the co-feature to a main event vacant heavyweight title fight between Jon Jones and Ciryl Gane. UFC 285 will have a main card on pay-per-view following prelims expected for ESPN and ESPN+.
Shevchenko, 34, has been lamenting a lack of challengers at 125 pounds, but now she has one. She’ll be gunning for her 10th straight win overall and eighth straight flyweight title defense. She fought just once in 2022 and took a split decision from Taila Santos this past June in a fight many thought she lost. If nothing else, most agreed it was the least dominant she has looked as champion.
Shevchenko won the vacant belt in 2018 against former strawweight champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk. She defended it with wins over Jessica Eye, Liz Carmouche, Katlyn Chookagian, Jennifer Maia, Jessica Andrade and Lauren Murphy before her win over Santos. Andrade and Murphy fight each other this week.
Mexico’s Grasso, 29, gets her first crack at a title on the strength of four straight wins, all since she moved to flyweight from strawweight. After a loss to former strawweight champ Carla Esparza, Grasso moved up a division and has beaten Ji Yeon Kim, Maycee Barber, Joanne Wood and, most recently, Viviane Araujo this past October in her first UFC main event.
With the addition, the UFC 285 lineup now includes:
- Jon Jones vs. Ciryl Gane – for vacant heavyweight title
- Champ Valentina Shevchenko vs. Alexa Grasso – for women’s flyweight title
- Viviane Araujo vs. Amanda Ribas
- Bo Nickal vs. Jamie Pickett
- Geoff Neal vs. Shavkat Rakhmonov
- Derek Brunson vs. Dricus Du Plessis
- Julio Arce vs. Cody Garbrandt
- Marc-Andre Barriault vs. Julian Marquez
- Kamuela Kirk vs. Esteban Ribovics
- Farid Basharat vs. Da’Mon Blackshear
- Jessica Penne vs. Tabatha Ricci
- Mario Bautista vs. Guido Cannetti
Bout Time
Nice they also just added Nunes vs Aldana too
Something tells me they aren’t 100% Confident that all 3 Title Fights go down if they are putting them all on a Jon Jones headlined return card like that
Reigning UFC bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes is in talks to defend her 135-pound title against No. 5-ranked division contender Irene Aldana at the upcoming UFC 285 pay-per-view (PPV) event, recently made official for Sat., March 4, 2023 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
That’s according to Combate.
Nunes (22-5) was upended by Julianna Pena in the UFC 269 co-main event in late 2021, then came storming back to squash the “Venezuelan Vixen” in their UFC 276 rematch the following summer. “Lioness” turns 35 in just a few weeks.
ALDANA will beat NUNES!! That chick is a horse with educated hands
Also I don’t think grasso is near ready
Noooo, dont want to see Val wreck the sweetest girl in the sport.
Did Fiorot turn the fight down? The UFC really really doesnt want to give Santos another chance.
Yeah man, Alexa about to be sacrificed. Thrown to the wolves. She is a cutie.
Guessing they wanted to make Valentina happy. She was upset that she had to wait so long to get booked but being on a super card will get her paid.
- Jon Jones vs. Ciryl Gane – for vacant heavyweight title
- Champ Valentina Shevchenko vs. Alexa Grasso – for women’s flyweight title
- Champ Amanda Nunes vs. Irene Aldana – for women’s bantamweight title
- Bo Nickal vs. Jamie Pickett
- Geoff Neal vs. Shavkat Rakhmonov
- Derek Brunson vs. Dricus Du Plessis
Not sure if 5 or 6 bouts will be on main card but if so, that card is awesome and all the champs will make bank.
Kill the women’s divisions
Thats a dope card
Neal and Shavkat should be a banger.
yesssir