The event, which is expected to take over Las Vegas' unique event venue The Sphere this weekend, was promoted in CEO Dana White's latest media offensive just before Mexico's Independence Day on Tuesday, with an emphasis on telling the history of Mexico's famed fighting sport.
This will be the second consecutive September that NocheUFC promises to celebrate in Nevada, just next door to the U.S. on the southern border, and that budding tradition will be back on track with the only current champion from Mexico, Alexa Grasso, defending her title against former champion Valentina Shevchenko.
Grasso, who holds the historic record as a flyweight titleholder, is the country's first female fighter to win gold at UFC. Grasso and Shevchenko will meet in Saturday's co-main event (10 p.m., ESPN+ pay-per-view) to make history as fighters of their kind in UFC's first female trilogy.
“It means a lot,” Grasso recently told The Post about the historic trifecta. “It shows how hard I work. I like to give it my all every game and this is the result of years of hard work.”
But Grasso vs. Shevchenko III is a fight that has yet to be decided: Grasso won the first bout last March by fourth-round submission, then fought them to a controversial draw in the rematch last year.
So Grasso could leave the Octagon on Saturday undefeated in her three straight bouts against her rival, or she could fall to 1-1-1 with Shevchenko if the title changes hands.
If they do, their series could have the same outcome as the first four-part series when Grasso's countryman and fellow 125-pounder Brandon Moreno fought Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC. That series spanned 25 consecutive months of their careers, but Moreno emerged victorious in the final bout to take a 2-1-1 career advantage.
Grasso (16-3-1, six finishes) doesn’t want to entertain such thoughts, but he expects a fourth fight would be necessary if that were to happen.
“If that happens, please give me a chance. Absolutely,” Grasso said with a laugh.
As it stands, Grasso and Shevchenko have been at each other's throats since their first bout was scheduled for January 2023, so an immediate fourth bout between them would undoubtedly keep the action going into the new year.
While some fighters may feel fatigued after literally fighting the same opponents year after year, Grasso calmly asserts that this is not the case for him.
“It's just a fight,” said Grasso, who faced Shevchenko (23-4-1, 15 finishes) on “The Ultimate Fighter” earlier this year and has extensive experience with each other, “and I like to prepare for every fight camp.”
At this point, with nearly 45 minutes of shared time in the cage between the two championship showdowns, surprises seem few and far between.
Both fighters were happy to test their kickboxing skills, and both Grasso, 31, and Shevchenko, 36, from Kyrgyzstan, excelled.
The crucial difference in Grasso's case was her quick grappling initiation, which set up a match-ending crank to the face in the first bout and led to a nail-biting final minute in the rematch, where her late surge of striking on the mat was enough to cause one judge to score the fifth round an inexplicable 10-8.
The score turned what should have been a split decision victory for Shevchenko into a surprising draw, and has left the challenger feeling particularly bitter ever since.
Shevchenko remains adamant that the strongly pro-Mexican crowd that turned out at T-Mobile Arena on Mexican Independence Day last year was one factor in swaying the three veteran Nevada state-certified judges and causing them to express a desire not to fight at a UFC event this year.
Shevchenko told multiple media outlets, including The Washington Post, in June that she understood a third fight wasn't centered around Mexico and Shevchenko's fighting traditions, but that was incorrect.
Grasso wouldn't say where Shevchenko got that impression, but he never thought that was the case.
“I am 100% [sure] “I never thought it would happen like this,” Grasso said candidly about UFC 306 being an event celebrating the history of combat sports in his home country.
And she wouldn't have it any other way.
“It's really awesome,” Grasso says of the opportunity to anchor two consecutive Noche UFC events as Mexico's highest-ranked fighter on each fight card. “It just says how hard my team and I have been working and how hard we've been working lately. All of the Mexicans that are on the fight card are incredible.”
