5 Fighters To Watch For Noche UFC: Grasso vs. Shevchenko 2

Here are the Noche UFC fighters to watch.

Fernando Quiles Jr. | Sep 12, 2023

5 Fighters To Watch For Noche UFC: Grasso vs. Shevchenko 2 /

Noche UFC is upon us and there are some key fighters to watch out for on the upcoming Mexican Independence Day card.

The event, scheduled for September 16, will be held inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. In the main event, Alexa Grasso will look to defeat Valentina Shevchenko a second time in their flyweight title main event. Back in March, Grasso submitted Shevchenko in the fourth round to capture the UFC 125-pound gold.

Also featured on the card will be a welterweight scrap between Jack Della Maddalena and Kevin Holland. Raul Rosas Jr. vs. Terrence Mitchell, Daniel Zellhuber vs. Christos Giagos, and Fernando Padilla vs. Kyle Nelson will also be featured on the Noche UFC main card.

There are 22 fighters scheduled to compete in the event, but here are five competitors to watch out for.

Valentina Shevchenko

MMA fans were surprised when Alexa Grasso stopped the nine-fight winning streak Valentina Shevchenko had amassed. Grasso saw that Taila Santos had success against "Bullet" on the ground, so she looked to exploit that hole and she ended up earning a submission finish to become the UFC women's flyweight champion.

Shevchenko has lost just four times in her pro MMA career. After each defeat, Shevchenko has bounced back with a victory. This is the first time she's coming off a submission loss. Many will be intrigued by how "Bullet" responds to adversity and it won't be long to find out whether or not she can get the flyweight title back.

Jack Della Maddalena

After starting his pro MMA career with a record of 0-2, Jack Della Maddalena has found himself on a 15-fight winning streak. Following a split decision victory over Bassil Hafez, which resulted in a "Fight of the Night" bonus, Maddalena will get a stern test in Kevin Holland.

Holland has developed quite nicely as a well-rounded fighter inside the Octagon. That much was evident by his first-round submission finish over Michael Chiesa back in July.

Maddalena has stellar takedown defense and knows how to land significant strikes. He'll have to be mindful of Holland's striking output, however. He'll look to exploit holes in his opponent's defense. If Maddalena can handle Holland decisively, expect big things from him in the future.

Raul Rosas Jr.

Raul Rosas Jr. had a ton of hype going into his UFC debut due to his young age. He defeated Jay Perrin at UFC 282, becoming the youngest fighter to enter the UFC Octagon at 18 years and 63 days.

With the highs come the lows as well. Rosas was defeated by Christian Rodriguez in his last fight via unanimous decision. Now that the first pro loss has come early on in Rosas' career, he hopes the pressure has been taken off him. At Noche UFC, he will take on Terrence Mitchell, a man with a record of 14-3.

Daniel Zellhuber

Daniel Zellhuber suffered the lone blemish on his pro MMA record thus far around this time last year. He dropped a unanimous decision to Trey Ogden. He did follow it up with a unanimous decision win over seasoned veteran Lando Vannata.

The question for Zellhuber is can he take that next step and put away Christos Giagos at Noche UFC? Zellhuber hasn't scored a finish since 2021 and Giagos is fresh off a knockout win over Ricky Glenn.

Roman Kopylov

After being submitted in his UFC debut and following that up with a unanimous decision loss, Kopylov has put together a three-fight winning streak. He has stopped all of his opponents in that span. Kopylov's most recent bout took place at UFC 291 back in July. He scored a head kick knockout win over Claudio Ribeiro.

To extend his winning streak to four, Kopylov will need to get past Josh Fremd, who has won two in a row. Kopylov was expecting to meet Anthony Hernandez after Chris Curtis pulled out of the event due to an injury. Hernandez ended up suffering a torn ligament, so now the replacement fighter has a replacement opponent.

UFC SCHEDULE 2023: EVERY FIGHT & MAJOR EVENT HAPPENING THIS YEAR

Stick with MMA Knockout for more daily coverage of the UFC and MMA.

Follow MMA Knockout on Twitter and Facebook.

Published Sep 12, 2023

FERNANDO QUILES JR.

Fernando has over a decade of combat sports news writing experience. He currently covers MMA, boxing, and pro wrestling. Fernando joined MMA Knockout as the Lead Writer/Editor when it was founded in 2023.