Valentina Shevchenko didn’t leave Saturday’s championship fight unscathed.
The former UFC women’s flyweight champion revealed Tuesday that she suffered a comminuted fracture on her right hand, an injury she claims stemmed from the first round of her title rematch against Alexa Grasso in the main event of Noche UFC at the T-Mobile in Las Vegas. “Bullet” said the injury will require surgery, but gave no time frame on a return.
Yesterday got the results on my 1 st round hand injury.
Comminuted fracture that requires surgery 💪💪💪— Valentina Shevchenko (@BulletValentina) September 19, 2023
Shevchenko (23-5 MMA, 12-4 UFC) fought Grasso (17-3 MMA, 9-3 UFC) to a split draw, both fighters earning a 48-47 scorecard and tying 47-47 on the third. Unfortunately for Shevchenko, because Grasso didn’t lose, she kept her women’s 125-pound title.
“I broke my thumb in the first round, and it’s fractured,” Shevchenko said the night of the fight at 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.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Noche UFC.
