Alexa Grasso tops Viviane Araujo by choice at UFC Combat Night time

Alexa Grasso confirmed Saturday she has totally settled in as a flyweight, successful her fourth struggle in a row since bulking up from strawweight two years in the past. Her conquest in the principle occasion of UFC Combat Night time in Las Vegas got here by unanimous choice towards a fellow top-10 contender within the 125-pound division, Viviane Araujo.

Grasso (15-3), who’s 29 and from Mexico, constructed up a major edge in hanging output over the 5 rounds. However her finest work may need been in her defensive wrestling — stuffing eight of Araujo’s 10 takedown makes an attempt. That stored the struggle on the toes for all however a two-minute stretch in Spherical 2, enabling Grasso to remain busy with punches and kicks. She landed 193 strikes to Araujo’s 148.

Neither lady put the opposite in deep trouble, however Grasso led the dance by principally holding the bout at a distance the place she may finest make the most of her stand-up abilities. All three judges scored the principle occasion her means, handing over playing cards of 50-45, 49-46 and 49-46. Nevertheless it was removed from a runaway.

“She’s a troublesome warrior,” Grasso stated of Araujo (11-4), a 33-year-old Brazilian fighter who’s No. 9 within the ESPN ladies’s flyweight rankings. “She’s a troublesome opponent, as you may see.”

Amongst 125-pounders, solely champion Valentina Shevchenko has an extended lively successful streak than the eighth-ranked Grasso. However Grasso’s time with the division’s second longest run of success is prone to be short-lived, as two different top-10 flyweights on four-fight successful streaks, Katlyn Chookagian and Manon Fiorot, are slated to satisfy subsequent weekend at UFC 280.

Saturday’s struggle card on the UFC Apex was scheduled to have a second matchup of top-10 flyweights — within the males’s 125-pound division. However Askar Askarov, who’s ranked eighth by ESPN, was pulled from his bout with No. 9-ranked Brandon Royval on Friday due to what the UFC termed “weight administration points.”