UFC champions history: Women's flyweight
Alexa Grasso, left, is helped up after defeating Valentina Shevchenko in a UFC 285 women's flyweight title bout on March 4, 2023, in Las Vegas. Credit: AP/David Becker
The UFC flyweight championship was the prize for Season 26 of "The Ultimate Fighter," which featured 16 female fighters in a tournament-style competition to determine who would become the promotion's first female champion at 125 pounds.
Here is the path of the UFC women's flyweight championship.
Nicco Montano
Successful title defenses: 0
Montana beat Roxanne Modafferi by unanimous decision on Dec. 1, 2017, at "The Ultimate Fighter: A New World Champion Finale" to win the inaugural title. Going into her first title defense at UFC 228 in September 2018, Montano failed to weigh in on the Friday before the fight and was taken to the hospital. The scheduled bout against Valentina Shevchenko was canceled, and Montano was stripped of the title.
Valentina Shevchenko
Successful title defenses: 7
Shevchenko won the vacant flyweight title at UFC 231 with a unanimous decision win over Joanna Jedrezjczyk on Dec. 8, 2018. In the next four-plus years, she defended the title seven times, taking out all comers and dispatching them either via knockout or decision. Until Alexa Grasso came along at UFC 285.
Alexa Grasso
Grasso submitted Shevchenko in the fourth round at UFC 285 on March 4, 2023, to dethrone one of the best to ever do it and claim the title. Grasso had been trailing on the scorecards, two rounds to one, going into the final round.
Mark La Monica is a deputy sports editor at Newsday. He also covers mixed martial arts.
