Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White was just as flabbergasted as everyone else who watched the Noche UFC event last weekend at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, where flyweight champion Alexa Grasso and former 125-pound titleholder Valentina Shevchenko battled to a split draw, thanks in part to a wacky scorecard from judge Mike Bell.
So what happens next?
“You have to do the rematch,” White said at the “Contender Series” press conference. “We will rematch them. It’s the right thing to do. It’s the fight that needs to happen. We’re comfortable with where [Shevchenko is] at as far as her injury. We’re comfortable with it. She’ll probably start striking again in three months, a little less.”
Shevchenko revealed a hand injury suffered in the Noche UFC main event.
“I broke my thumb in the first round, and it’s fractured,” Shevchenko during the Noche UFC post-fight press conference. “I felt it affect my striking, but at the same time I thought, If I stop, it’s going to be very frustrating for the whole fans for this night because they were waiting for this fight, they wanted to see this fight, and If I stopped in the first round and said, ‘I cannot continue.’ Again, that’s against my personal rules. That’s why I continued to fight with my whole heart. I did everything to secure the victory. But because it’s Mexican Independence Day, it affected the decision of the judges to give a 10-8 in the fifth round.”
“Bullet” is expected to have surgery this week to repair her “comminuted fracture.”
The promotion’s plan to run it back will likely come as a disappointment to Grasso, who was hoping to score a fresh flyweight challenger for her next title defense. Waiting in the wings are Erin Blanchfield at Manon Fiord, who are ranked No. 2 and No. 3 at 125 pounds, respectively.
For more results and fallout from Noche UFC click here.
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
