Valentina isn't faster anymore. 5 years ago? Yes. Now? Probably not. Val has focused on wrestling later in her career, partly because she's not as dominant a striker as she used to be. She's still good obviously, it's not like she forgot how to strike--but look at her last fight. She knew she could overpower the smaller Grasso with wrestling and she'd been in dogfights with Alexa standing previously.
Manon is a different challenge. She is bigger and has excellent TDD so Val may not be able to get her wrestling going. Manon is somewhat basic with her striking but she's tall and long and she's VERY good at those basic things. Staying long with the jab, using the side kick to keep the distance where she wants it, throwing a straight shot down the middle off her jab that gets there quickly.
Val can definitely win, but there's s reason Manon is favored. Val will have to put a more complete performance together than she has in awhile tonight to win. People maybe forget that prior to the Grasso trilogy, Val really should've lost her belt to Santos. Val is one of the WMMA GOAT'S, but she's started to decline like everyone does at a certain point. She's still among the best, but far from invincible like she used to seem to be.
