What happened to Valentina?

Maybe a bit of a decline.

However, she was clearly stunned in the first and that probably threw her off. sure she's faced nunes but nunes is just a glorified brawler with little to no savvy or finesse to her stand up. Alex was patient, threw straight shots, worked off her jab and wasn't charging in like a bull and as a result was landing cleanly on Val something very few have been able to do.

joe or dc mentioned that she was already breathing heavy after the first and that Alexa looked like she could do 10rds.

Alexa got out of a few bad positions that in the past were game over for Val's opponents that had to way on Val and cause mental fatigue.

IMO a definite decline because of age, Alexa being more skilled than we give her credit for (especially in the standup), age taking a toll on her conditioning as it was a fairly high paced fight in which she had to work, mental fatigue from getting Alexa in bad positions only to have her get out.

IMO She wins the rematch but is definitely there to be taken out again.
 
I feel that she is still solid, but the game is evolving and catching up to her more so then her declining. She looked good in some areas -- her jab was really effective after round 1 and her ground game is solid. But we still see her do shit like go for fucking headlocks for takedowns. That's something that probably should've left her game years ago. Her striking is still very technical and high level -- I just feel that Grasso did a solid job turning an MMA fight into a boxing match for the first round. I didn't feel Valentina did bad overall.
 
Doughie99 said:
I just think she made a mistake throwing that spinning kick, and Grasso was lightning fast to jump on her back and get the RNC.
- Getting caught can happen to anyone.

Spinning shit always carries a bit of risk when you throw it.
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She does spinning shit every dam fight, the truth is she didn't do her homework and Alexa did. This isn't the first time Grasso has capitalized off spinning shit. She got Jojo Calderwood as well.
 
Geniusss said:
What do you guys think? Is she really old now and past her prime or she just had an off night ?

Because ain't no fucking way in hell that the same Valentina who took Holm, Joanna and Nunes to school at stand-up is going to be losing against these caliber of fighters now

Grasso ain't that good, something was wrong with Valentina

What do you guys think?
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She met a fighter that could take advantage of her bad habits. I was watching an analysis of the fight earlier, and basically valentina gets in trouble for exposing her back very often -- nunes made her pay for it, santos and others did, grasso did as well. Also, the analysis was talking about how a lot of valentines defense is simply stepping back out of range then countering, but if you pressure her back to the fence, that option clearly isn't there and grasso did a good job of feinting to push val back to the fence.

And yes, val is 35 and past her physical prime. That was certainly part of it, but grasso and her team deserve a lot of credit too.
 
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RockyLockridge said:
When asked in a thread last month what Grasso's path to victory was, I respond with "Valentina will have to make a huge mistake, and grasso will have to capitalize on it perfectly.”

and that's exactly what happened. Valentina pulled a chris weidman and threw a spinning kick from too close that cost her the fight.
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Valentina often does that, though. Just like she often goes for head and arm throws which result in her opponent getting her back, which was very close to happening in round one with grasso, but the bell rang
 
mudrubble said:
I'm not going to say Grasso isn't that good but I will agree wholeheartedly that Saturday's Valentina was soft, tired, unfocused and one step behind the Valentina of 1.5 yrs ago.

I don't know if it was injury during camp, distractions, loss of passion, or age - but that was not the Valentina we know. Sucking air in the 2nd round and laying on a woman and catching her breath.... that is not the Valentina we know. Not sure why.
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Also this is the first time she trained in Japan for the first time right?
 
RockyLockridge said:
When asked in a thread last month what Grasso's path to victory was, I respond with "Valentina will have to make a huge mistake, and grasso will have to capitalize on it perfectly.”

and that's exactly what happened. Valentina pulled a chris weidman and threw a spinning kick from too close that cost her the fight.
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Yes she did, but Grasso was holding her own even though Val was getting some takedowns. It wasn't a blowout imo before that fuck up. Lol
 
VOTE for Dreyga2000 said:
Tape

She has hours and hours of tape on her

Her opponents have studied her every move and now have figured out how to exploit her weaknesses

Both Santos and Grasso found weaknesses in her style and created a game plan around those weaknesses

——

Grasso knew to be ready for the crucifix. Grasso knew to be ready for the spin. Grasso knew southpaw would limit her kicks. Grasso was ready to defend against her clinch takedowns

The only thing that Valentina did that was effective against Grasso was shoot double legs but that was because Valentina has never done that in any of other fights so Grasso wasn’t ready for it.

Valentina needs to change her whole game because all the girls are ready for everything she does
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Very nice breakdown indeed.
 
VOTE for Dreyga2000 said:
Tape

She has hours and hours of tape on her

Her opponents have studied her every move and now have figured out how to exploit her weaknesses

Both Santos and Grasso found weaknesses in her style and created a game plan around those weaknesses

——

Grasso knew to be ready for the crucifix. Grasso knew to be ready for the spin. Grasso knew southpaw would limit her kicks. Grasso was ready to defend against her clinch takedowns

The only thing that Valentina did that was effective against Grasso was shoot double legs but that was because Valentina has never done that in any of other fights so Grasso wasn’t ready for it.

Valentina needs to change her whole game because all the girls are ready for everything she does
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Great comment and one of the first times I’ve heard this mentioned. There is a reason why staying champ for a long time is as impressive as it is. Your opponents can literally design a camp around the exact way you fight while their full game is largely hidden.
 
Outsmarted by a clever fox. Alexa skillful but Val was out muscling. A smarter fight IQ Val could win. But that is not what happened. Next fight Alexa might find another way. Alexa landing but avoiding hard strikes from Val seemed to really frustrate. Val used to dominating and kind of overconfident. Alexa exploited very slyly. I doubt Alexa wanted to be smothered by Val on ground but Alexa did avoid damage.
 
Geniusss said:
What do you guys think? Is she really old now and past her prime or she just had an off night ?

Because ain't no fucking way in hell that the same Valentina who took Holm, Joanna and Nunes to school at stand-up is going to be losing against these caliber of fighters now

Grasso ain't that good, something was wrong with Valentina

What do you guys think?
Click to expand...
Her opponents caught up and she might not realize it yet.
 
Valentina was winning but not doing as well as she should have. Yes, I also think she lost a little speed and because of this her greatest weapons - distance control and timing - were all off. That or she had her head completely up her ass. Her footwork was sub par for her, as she rarely pivoted to throw a counter and instead simply retreated most of the time Grasso advanced, which allowed Grasso to fight at a slightly more favorable range for her.

As Grasso was almost always occupying the center of the octagon leaving her with a slightly shorter distance to cover to match any lateral movement on Valentina's part. This also allowed her to angle effectively from time to time and pressure Shevchenko a bit more effectively. Combined with Shevchenko's difficulty controlling distance this fight she literally bounced off the side of the cage at least twice because she was not properly aware of her position.

The add that terrible spinning back kick thrown when Grasso was far too close for it to land and that was the mistake Grasso needed to capitalize on. A well-deserved win for Alexa.
 
She is slowing down. Valentina never trade shots with people. She was flat footed for most of the fight and taking damage on her feet. That isn't normal for her.
 
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