Mairon Santos surprised himself with his powerful highlight knockout to become the featherweight winner of “The Ultimate Fighter 32.”
LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Mairon Santos[/autotag] needed to pinch himself to make sure he wasn’t dreaming.
Santos (14-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) cracked Kaan Ofli with a counter left hand in the second round of their featherweight Season 32 finale of “The Ultimate Fighter,” took place on the main card of UFC on ESPN 62 at the UFC Apex.
“I was like, this can’t be real,” Santos said at a post-fight news conference. “The way that it was, like him going face-first, I was like, this can’t be real. That’s why I kept punching him because I didn’t believe it. Right now, I’m still thinking that’s a dream, but at the same time, I’m trying to think, OK, this is it. You are The Ultimate Fighter and one day you can be a champion. … It’s a dream come true.”
There was no dream. Santos is now a UFC fighter and became one with a highlight-reel finish in an unfamiliar fashion. Sure, Santos has finished opponents with strikes on the regional scene, but this one was different.
“I’m not used to knocking people out like that,” Santos said. “I didn’t know that I had this power. That’s why I kept punching him, because it was unreal to me.”
Now that he’s accomplished the first step in his goal of becoming a UFC champion, Santos can’t wait to enjoy some good food before preparing for his next fight, which he hopes occurs before the end of the year since he and his wife have a baby on the way.
Aside from getting in his next fight soon, he doesn’t want to rush his progression in the UFC.
“When I have to be in the top 15, it will happen naturally,” Santos said. “I don’t want to force it. I know I have a long way to go. So, I just want to fight before the end of the year and then fight again, fight again. Top 15, top 5, but without rushing anything.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 62.
Valentina Shevchenko says UFC 306 at Sphere won’t be a Mexican Independence Day celebration as the promotion has previously claimed.
It’s [autotag]Valentina Shevchenko[/autotag]’s understanding that UFC 306 at Sphere will not be the same type of Mexican Independence Day celebration that was built around her second fight with Alexa Grasso.
Shevchenko (23-4-1 MMA, 12-3-1 UFC) is set to serve as a coach opposite UFC women’s flyweight champion Grasso (16-3-1 MMA, 8-3-1 UFC) on Season 32 of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality series, which debuts Tuesday on ESPN and will serve as a lead-in for the trilogy bout between the pair.
After seeing her long title reign come to an end with a stunning upset loss to Grasso at UFC 285 in March 2023, they ran it back at Noche UFC in September 2023. The rematch ended in a split draw, with Grasso keeping the belt after judge Mike Bell awarded a heavily-criticized 10-8 round in the fifth frame that cost Shevchenko the decision.
Now expectations are the third bout will take place at UFC 306, which goes down Sept. 14 at Sphere in Las Vegas and has been touted as another Mexican Independence Day celebration. According to Shevchenko, though, the theme of the event will not not match what was seen this past year.
“It’s my understanding that there is talk about Sphere, but it is not Mexican Independence Day,” Shevchenko told MMA Junkie on Monday. “It’s going to be focused on the Sphere. It’s going to be focusing on UFC 306. Mexican Independence Day is a few days before the event is happening, so it’s nothing related to Mexican Independence Day. It’s going to be a complete different event, completely different location and complete different day. Close, but different.”
Even if it was a Mexican Independence Day theme, Shevchenko said she wouldn’t allow the trauma of her previous experience to decline the date or fight.
“These superstitions, they are not good for the fighter,” Shevchenko said. “Fighter has to be ready no matter what. If fighter is going to put these things in their head, it’s going to slowly destroy them. It’s all about how strong your mentality is, how much you can get rid of that. If you can get rid of that, you’re going to be successful no matter what, no matter how. I fought so many times in the territory of my opponents, so it’s shows me there’s nothing I cannot do. Everything is in my hands and I just have to prepare good and do whatever I have to do for the victory.”
Shevchenko and Grasso both sustained hand injuries in the second fight that required surgery. It will be a year or more by the time they get in the octagon again, and during that time they were offered the opportunity to coach the “TUF 32” reality series.
Sometimes there will be significant conflict between coaches while filing the show, but Shevchenko said that wasn’t the case with her and Grasso, despite their history of two previous fights.
“My personality – I’m not an aggressive person,” Shevchenko said. “I’m in martial arts for a long time. Martial arts teach me so many things, and I don’t have anything against Alexa. She’s doing what she’s doing and definitely the result, the first fight we had – whatever. The result was the result. The second fight was a draw, but in my opinion I know she was gifted the decision. I don’t know what reason this judge did whatever, but I don’t have anything against her. She’s doing the same. She has the passion for martial arts and we worked alone together very good. We were sharing the same things in common with our view for martial arts. I think our relationship now is kind of good.”
Shevchenko said she hasn’t been officially offered a date or location for the Grasso trilogy fight, and that she is “waiting for the final word from the UFC, what they are thinking and what they are wanting to do with the fight.” Ultimately, though, she knows the trilogy is happening, and it will be her next fight.
After feeling like she got a raw deal in the rematch, Shevchenko said it’s a prominent goal for the next fight to leave the judges out of it, and begin a second reign as 125-pound champion in a definitive manner.
“The last fight showed that I was stronger, I was faster and she had just a few moments that were in her favor,” Shevchenko said. “I’m just focusing on my performance and be more faster, be stronger and definitely it’s a thing I don’t want to leave the decision for the judges. I have all the reason why to not let it leave for the judges. It’s a personal thing to not let it happen. Definitely I will focus more on the finish. For me, it’s no matter what kind of finish, striking or submission. It has to be done. I’m focusing more on those things.”
Valentina Shevchenko says she’s blocking out the noise that comes with the spotlighted “The Ultimate Fighter” reality series coaching gig.
LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Valentina Shevchenko[/autotag] didn’t sign up to coach ‘The Ultimate Fighter 32” just to take pictures and be on television.
As she drove through old Kyrgyzstan villages recently, Shevchenko (23-4-1 MMA, 12-3-1 UFC) officially received word of the proposal from the UFC. Initially, she wasn’t really interested. But as time passed, Shevchenko warmed up to the idea and is now dead-focused on ensuring her team performs against Alexa Grasso’s.
“I was like, ‘I want to rest a little bit more. I want to travel a little bit more.’ But once you start to think and process about the idea, your mind is starting to change and you are completely transferring into the fighting mode, the competition mood,” Shevchenko told reporters, including MMA Junkie, on Monday at the UFC Apex. “First, my impression was like, ‘Ahhh.’ But then, yeah. It’s going to be cool.”
Shevchenko has one goal, and that’s to improve her fighters, not reinvent them. In order to do so, she’s not interested in guest fighters on her coaching staff. She wants full-time coaches and will bring in some of the best she knows from around the world.
“If I want my fighters, my team, to be the winners, I have to bring them the best coaches,” Shevchenko said. “Not all former fighters or active fighters are the best coaches. They might perform good, but they cannot teach. I have to focus on having the best teachers, the best coaches. This is the strategy. I don’t want to just show myself. I’m here not for myself. If I was just here for myself, of course, I’d take a picture or something like that. I just care about team. I’m here for my team.”
“TUF 32” begins filming this week with a June 4 premiere date. Typically, each season runs weekly with a total of 12 episodes. If that maintains with this season, Shevchenko and Grasso (16-3-1 MMA, 8-3-1 UFC) won’t fight until at least September – which could align them for the promotion’s highly anticipated Noche UFC celebration at Sphere in Las Vegas. The two flyweights headlined the inaugural event in 2023.
“I was just recently coming from the surgery, the hand surgery,” Shevchenko said. “I still have a scar on my thumb. Time-wise, I think it’s good because I will not have to force myself in terms of preparation. If you force yourself and you just rush in, it’s going to happen that you get injured again, and it’s going to delay everything for even more time. Time-wise, I think it’s good.”
Watch the first faceoff between Alexa Grasso and Valentina Shevchenko as they get set to coach Season 32 of “The Ultimate Fighter.”
LAS VEGAS – UFC women’s flyweight champion [autotag]Alexa Grasso[/autotag] and [autotag]Valentina Shevchenko[/autotag] faced off for the first time ahead of their trilogy Monday, and MMA Junkie was on the scene to capture the moment.
Grasso (16-3-1 MMA, 8-3-1 UFC) and Shevchenko (23-4-1 MMA, 12-3-1 UFC) spoke with reporters at the UFC Apex after it was announced this past weekend that they will serve as opposing coaches on Season 32 of the “The Ultimate Fighter,” with filming set to begin shortly. After the show airs, they will meet for a third time later this year, with details still to be determined.
