Grasso keeps rolling, outlasts Araujo by decision

Alexa Grasso showed Saturday she has afloat settled successful arsenic a flyweight, winning her 4th combat successful a enactment since bulking up from strawweight 2 years ago. Her conquest successful the main lawsuit of UFC Fight Night successful Las Vegas came by unanimous determination against a chap top-10 contender successful the 125-pound division, Viviane Araujo.

Grasso (15-3), who is 29 and from Mexico, built up a important borderline successful striking output implicit the 5 rounds. But her champion enactment mightiness person been successful her antiaircraft wrestling -- stuffing 8 of Araujo's 10 takedown attempts. That kept the combat connected the feet for each but a two-minute agelong successful Round 2, enabling Grasso to enactment engaged with punches and kicks. She landed 193 strikes to Araujo's 148.

Neither pistillate enactment the different successful superior trouble, but Grasso led the creation by mostly keeping the bout astatine a region wherever she could champion utilize her stand-up skills. All 3 judges scored the main lawsuit her way, turning successful cards of 50-45, 49-46 and 49-46. But it was acold from a runaway.

"She's a pugnacious warrior," Grasso said of Araujo (11-4), a 33-year-old Brazilian combatant who is No. 9 successful the ESPN women's flyweight rankings. "She's a pugnacious opponent, arsenic you tin see."

Among 125-pounders, lone champion Valentina Shevchenko has a longer progressive winning streak than the eighth-ranked Grasso. But Grasso's clip with the division's 2nd longest tally of occurrence is apt to beryllium short-lived, arsenic 2 different top-10 flyweights connected four-fight winning streaks, Katlyn Chookagian and Manon Fiorot, are slated to conscionable adjacent play astatine UFC 280.

Saturday's combat paper astatine the UFC Apex was scheduled to person a 2nd matchup of top-10 flyweights -- successful the men's 125-pound division. But Askar Askarov, who is ranked eighth by ESPN, was pulled from his bout with No. 9-ranked Brandon Royval connected Friday due to the fact that of what the UFC termed "weight absorption issues."