Media Was Valentina dominating before she lost?

She does what she always does literally....Stalls, rushes, backs out or maybe goes for the finish if the rush is effective.

Thats her game....thats her style....and it didn't work, and it won't work in the re-up either.
 



Valentina seems to think so. She said it post fight and doubled down on this IG post from a few hours ago.

I don't, to me it seemed like Grasso adjusted to everything Valentina did and she got frustrated. What do the sherbros think? Discuss.

It was a highly competitive fight. Grasso lit her face up several times and of course finished her by face-crushing RNC.
 
Dominating, no, but seemingly on her way to winning a UD.
Yeah I agree it was a close 1st round, then Val seemed to be easing into a UD and didn't seem to have any issues with Alexa until well she did lol. Honestly Val has been making some bad mistakes lately which is very odd for her...its like she is bored and does stupid shit. For example when she fought Santos it was the repeated head lock throws she went for and ended up in a bad position vs the bigger Santos...every time lol, then in this fight it was the spinning kick that was poorly timed. Considering over her career she has rarely made mistakes like this and instead has been calm and calculated its just odd to watch.
 
No, not dominating. But she was the champ and probably would have won the fight by decision if it was close. But, in hindsight it is obvious that the Grasso camp really dissected Val's fight tape. It's like they concluded: "Schevchenko gets the finish when her opponents drop their guard (Eye) or can't get out of a crucifix (The Decisionator, etc.) and the time she is most vulnerable when she feels confident/frustrated enough to try some spinning shit". Grasso's guard was high and tight all fight. She obviously drilled how to get out of the crucifix and did so. And she kept the fight competitive until Val decided to throw some spinning shit...and she took advantage of that opportunity! Age played a factor. And, I'm not ready to say Grasso is a straight up better fighter than Schev. But, 100% Team Grasso better prepared for this fight than Team Schevchenko did. And, that means a lot in this day and age of MMA.

Jarl
 
It was a highly competitive fight. Grasso lit her face up several times and of course finished her by face-crushing RNC.
I feel only the first was close, Val easily won the 2nd and 3rd and the 4th until the sub. Just take a look at the fight stats, Val out struck her in every round and in the 2nd and 3rd had the TD's and dominant position, round 4 she was up 22-13 in sig strikes before the nice sub by Grasso. So based on stats she was dominating and I feel should get an immediate rematch.
 
No, not dominating. But she was the champ and probably would have won the fight by decision if it was close. But, in hindsight it is obvious that the Grasso camp really dissected Val's fight tape. It's like they concluded: "Schevchenko gets the finish when her opponents drop their guard (Eye) or can't get out of a crucifix (The Decisionator, etc.) and the time she is most vulnerable when she feels confident/frustrated enough to try some spinning shit". Grasso's guard was high and tight all fight. She obviously drilled how to get out of the crucifix and did so. And she kept the fight competitive until Val decided to throw some spinning shit...and she took advantage of that opportunity! Age played a factor. And, I'm not ready to say Grasso is a straight up better fighter than Schev. But, 100% Team Grasso better prepared for this fight than Team Schevchenko did. And, that means a lot in this day and age of MMA.

Jarl
It wasn't really competitive based on scoring criteria before the sub, only the 1st round. But when I watched it live with the schills talking it seemed closer. Still Val lost and it was a beautiful move by Grasso to get the sub, I take nothing away from her as she won fair.

Check the fight stats http://ufcstats.com/fight-details/a69afe4a88c0ca12
 
I feel only the first was close, Val easily won the 2nd and 3rd and the 4th until the sub. Just take a look at the fight stats, Val out struck her in every round and in the 2nd and 3rd had the TD's and dominant position, round 4 she was up 22-13 in sig strikes before the nice sub by Grasso. So based on stats she was dominating and I feel should get an immediate rematch.
There was nothing easy about that fight for Shevchenko. She was fighting her heart out and still lost round(s) and got finished.
 
There was nothing easy about that fight for Shevchenko.
Based on scoring criteria she had easily won the 2nd and 3rd rounds and was easily winning the 4th based on the same criteria, only the first was close. Not saying Val didnt have to work hard for it as she absolutely did, but it wasnt close.
 
There was nothing easy about that fight for Shevchenko. She was fighting her heart out and still lost round(s) and got finished.

Indeed, we don't know how the 4th round would have been scored because it never ended. Basically, Val was up 2-1. But the taking of the back and sub attempt alone probably would have given Grasso round 4. Then we are looking at a tie going into the final round, which is by definition, not domination.

Jarl
 
I feel only the first was close, Val easily won the 2nd and 3rd and the 4th until the sub. Just take a look at the fight stats, Val out struck her in every round and in the 2nd and 3rd had the TD's and dominant position, round 4 she was up 22-13 in sig strikes before the nice sub by Grasso. So based on stats she was dominating and I feel should get an immediate rematch.
It wasn't really competitive based on scoring criteria before the sub, only the 1st round. But when I watched it live with the schills talking it seemed closer. Still Val lost and it was a beautiful move by Grasso to get the sub, I take nothing away from her as she won fair.

Check the fight stats http://ufcstats.com/fight-details/a69afe4a88c0ca12
There are only 5 rounds in a fight. Val was up 2-1, but well on her way to losing the 4th because of the deep sub attempt/threat and ground control time. The striking disparity wasn't large enough to give Val the round. How is a draw going into the 5th a domination?

If you're saying Val won her rounds more cleanly, sure I can definitely agree with that. That said, that isn't how fights are scored and regardless of scoring criteria, if a fighter gets frustrated by their opponents success, said fighter is not dominating.
 
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I said/meant IF 4 had continued going as it was pre submission, without the submission event ever occuring.

Up until that point in the 4th, val was winning the 4th. So at that point in time is was on it's way to being 3-1.

OK, that makes more sense, but why would we ignore the entire submission event? It happened. And while I agree that Val was winning the 4th, I don;t think she was by much, and I think that had the two gone to a fifth round, it's very likely that the fight would have been even. Far from dominating, Shevchenko wasn't even winning.

I'm not trying to take away from Shevchenko. She did a lot of good work in the fight. But she was getting the worst of the striking overall, and her success on the ground was mainly stalling, especially in the third. To call that dominating is silly. It was a relatively even fight.
 
There are only 5 rounds in a fight. Val was up 2-1, but wemm on her way to losing the 4th because of the deep sub attempt/threat and ground control time. The striking disparity wasn't large enough to give Val the round. How is a draw going into the 5th a domination?

If you're saying Val won her rounds more cleanly, sure I can definitely agree with that. That said, that isn't how fights are scored and regardless of scoring criteria, if a fighter gets frustrated by their opponents success, said fighter is not dominating.
What I am saying is that until Val made the mistake she was clearly up and it wasn't close, but yes after Grasso took the back and went for subs it is very likely she could have taken the 4th and then it would have been a draw...if you gave Grasso the first...I did not. I didnt say dominating either, Grasso did well but Val looked very comfortable and was clearly winning the 2nd, 3rd and 4th until as I said...she didnt lol.
 
OK, that makes more sense, but why would we ignore the entire submission event? It happened. And while I agree that Val was winning the 4th, I don;t think she was by much, and I think that had the two gone to a fifth round, it's very likely that the fight would have been even. Far from dominating, Shevchenko wasn't even winning.

I'm not trying to take away from Shevchenko. She did a lot of good work in the fight. But she was getting the worst of the striking overall, and her success on the ground was mainly stalling, especially in the third. To call that dominating is silly. It was a relatively even fight.
I think you need to take a look at the fight stats, only the first was close in the sig strike department. But hey I felt the same way when I watched it live, rewatched it this past Monday closer and totally different opinion.
 
I think you need to take a look at the fight stats, only the first was close in the sig strike department. But hey I felt the same way when I watched it live, rewatched it this past Monday closer and totally different opinion.

1. I think this is one of the many fights where sig strike numbers don't give an accurate portrayal of the fight. Grasso was landing the better shots, except of course when Val had her down, which was large parts of the 2nd and 3rd rounds.
2. Had the fight gone to a fifth round, it is very likely it would have been even. That's not domination.
3. There's an odd phenomenon where people seek to explain upsets as flukes or as the champ getting caught after dominating. We saw it with Usman-Leon, Pereira-Adesnaya, and now here. But at worst, the first two were 48-47 type of decision wins for the champ, which reflects a close fight. And had Val won her fight with Grasso, it also would likely have been a 48-47. In all three fights, the champ was winning on points(except maybe not in Shevchenko's case), mainly due to controlling position on the ground without doing much damage or wearing down their opponents. Edwards and Pereira both had a lot of gas in the tanks in the fifth rounds of their fights. They were losing, but were not dominated physically or mentally, and remained very dangerous and game opponents and they both proved it.
 
What I am saying is that until Val made the mistake she was clearly up and it wasn't close, but yes after Grasso took the back and went for subs it is very likely she could have taken the 4th and then it would have been a draw...if you gave Grasso the first...I did not. I didnt say dominating either, Grasso did well but Val looked very comfortable and was clearly winning the 2nd, 3rd and 4th until as I said...she didnt lol.
My bad, you didn't say dominating, that's on me because that's what the thread is about. Val swears she dominated that fight until the spinning back kick. I didn't realize what a sore loser she was until this fight. In this thread several people pointed out that she was a sore winner as well. Guess you excuse some things when you're fan.

I agree with you you, Val did look pretty comfortable from a score card position in the 2nd and 3rd, I said as much when I told you Val won her rounds more clearly. That said, I think Val was pretty frustrated in the 4th, because outside of Santos, Val has had her way with pretty much everyone on the ground. Whether she's in side control, mount, or a crucifix position raining down elbows. I think she got frustrated that Alexa wouldn't succumb to her and continued to scramble out of bad positions, forcing Val to expend more energy than she's used to on the mat.
 
No. She may have been ahead on cards but she was just delaying the inevitable. Grasso had her number on the feet and Valentina, while not deserving a stand up, wasn’t dont much of consequence on the ground. Just points. Grasso had more ways to finish as she showed in finishing.
 
Valentina started to panic wrestle because she was losing the fight on her feet


Pretty sure she got rocked in the first round

Even if Valentina fought through the round without tapping, it would be 2-2

That's not domination

Even when she had the mounted crucifix locked in, Grasso escaped.

It was a close fight, until Valentina tapped out and quit
 
Based on scoring criteria she had easily won the 2nd and 3rd rounds and was easily winning the 4th based on the same criteria, only the first was close. Not saying Val didnt have to work hard for it as she absolutely did, but it wasnt close.
Val got smoked, what are you talking about? Got lit up on the feet, had to resort to stalling and then got subbed.
 
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