Alexa Grasso Wins Unanimous Decision Over Manon Fiorot at Noche UFC
Alexa Grasso took a unanimous decision over Manon Fiorot on Saturday, winning a close women’s flyweight fight on the Noche UFC main card. All three judges scored it 29-28 at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona, handing the former champion a ranked win in a bout framed as a title eliminator.
Grasso improved to 18-5-1 overall and 10-5-1 in the UFC. Fiorot fell to 13-3 MMA and 8-2 inside the Octagon after entering as the betting favorite.
The No. 3-ranked Mexican flyweight walked in as an underdog against the No. 2 fighter in the division. Fiorot had more size, a recent first-round finish, and a clearer path on paper after Valentina Shevchenko relinquished the 125-pound title because of injury.
That vacancy raised the stakes. Natalia Silva and Wang Cong are already booked for the vacant championship in the UFC 332 headliner on Oct. 3 in Salt Lake City, and Saturday’s winner was positioned as the next woman in line.
Fiorot said as much before the fight. “Yeah, 100 percent,” she told MMA Junkie. “The winner of this fight gets the next title shot. We talked to the UFC about it.”
Grasso treated it as a fight that had been waiting to happen. “She’s No. 2, I’m No. 3,” she said. “We both fought for the title, we both want to fight for the title again.”
The first round belonged to the former champion. Grasso dropped Fiorot with a counter right hook, followed her to the canvas, and poured on ground-and-pound while the Glendale crowd came alive.
It was the kind of moment that can decide a 29-28 fight. One Sherdog judge even had the opening round 10-8, and the knockdown gave Grasso a round she never fully gave back on the official cards.
Fiorot settled in after that. She found body kicks, closed the distance, and made Grasso miss enough in the second round that at least one ringside scorecard swung her way.
The third round stayed competitive. Fiorot landed more often in stretches, while Grasso answered with a clinch knee, a clean counter, and enough late striking to keep the French contender from stealing the night.
Referee Blake Grice oversaw a 15-minute matchup that never became a blowout. Fiorot had the volume in spots, but she spent the first round on her back after the knockdown and could not erase that hole on all three cards.
The result keeps Grasso in the title picture at a chaotic moment for the division. Shevchenko is out with a shoulder and back injury, Silva is the No. 1 contender heading into UFC 332, and Grasso now owns the win over the woman ranked directly above her.
It also extends a rebound that started in March. Grasso had dropped consecutive decisions to Shevchenko and Silva before flattening Maycee Barber in 2:42 at UFC Seattle, a knockout that earned her a $100,000 bonus.
Fiorot’s own bounce-back is now on hold. She lost a five-round title fight to Shevchenko at UFC 315, then stopped Jasmine Jasudavicius in 74 seconds last October, and she entered Glendale believing a win would put her back in a championship fight.
That shot is Grasso’s to chase if the UFC follows through on the eliminator billing. Silva vs. Wang Cong comes first, and no next opponent has been confirmed for either woman who fought Saturday.
For a Mexican star on Noche UFC, the night still mattered on its own. Grasso has now appeared at the promotion’s Mexican Independence Day event for a third time, and she left Arizona with her second straight win and a 29-28 sweep over a top-two flyweight.
Noche UFC continued on Paramount+ with Tommy McMillen vs. Marwan Rahiki, a Brandon Moreno-Joseph Morales co-main event, and a Jean Silva-Jose Delgado headliner. Grasso walks out of Glendale back in the win column, and one step closer to another run at 125-pound gold.