Daniel Cormier believes Valentina Shevchenko should reconsider asking for immediate rematch, says Alexa Grasso won the stand-up
Daniel Cormier recently gave his take on Valentina Shevchenko's flyweight title loss to Alexa Grasso and believes that 'Bullet' should reconsider asking for an immediate rematch.
Cormier uploaded a video to his YouTube channel where he recapped UFC 285 and analyzed the women's flyweight title fight between Shevchenko and Grasso, which ended in an upset. He mentioned that the former champion should "re-visit" a rematch rather than pursuing it immediately:
"The former champ [Valentina Shevchenko] does want a rematch and she is entitled to that with 8 title defenses. But the question does become does Valentina really want it? Or maybe, maybe she should reassess and then re-visit this matchup later? Because I think that every time they match up, it's a very tough fight for the former champion." [9:54 - 10:17]
'DC' also brought up that he was shocked when he found out that Grasso was training for the exact situation that led to her winning the fight. He praised her for being committed to the game plan that saw her submit Shevchenko, saying:
"I thought, 'Oh, humbug, sure, you guys have so much foresight?' And then a video comes out of her in the back doing it. I was talking to Javier Mendez, and he was like, 'To have the b**ls to be training that, preparing for a unique attack like that, tells you how locked in Alexa and her team were for the fight.'" [8:48 - 9:15]
During her post-fight interview, 'Bullet' mentioned that she wants an immediate rematch, but it will be interesting to see whether she follows Cormier's advice and pursues another fight to get back on track.
Check out the full video:
Daniel Cormier questions who could challenge Jon Jones should he dominate Stipe Miocic
Jon Jones has a message for Stipe Miocic... ☠️ https://t.co/7b76c1uzrU
Jon Jones received a lot of praise for his performance at UFC 285 and rightfully so as he returned to the octagon after a three-year hiatus and submitted Ciryl Gane to win the vacant heavyweight championship.
In the aforementioned video, Daniel Cormier questioned who in the heavyweight division could realistically challenge Jones should he replicate that performance when he fights Stipe Miocic, saying:
"Jon Jones' debut was as good as it gets. For him, for his team, and the UFC...But let me pose this question to you, say [Jon] Jones does what he promises again, dominates Stipe [Miocic], then the question becomes who could challenge him in the heavyweight division? It's a scary thought." [5:07 - 5:32]
It will be interesting to see how Miocic fares against the new heavyweight champion and whether he will be able to regain the title he successfully defended more than any other heavyweight in UFC history.