Felice Herrig warned before UFC Fight Night 104 that she would be more than just a measuring stick for up-and-coming strawweight star Alexa Grasso, per Fox Sports' Damon Martin.
Saturday night during the pair's co-main event bout, Herrig made good on her word.
The 32-year-old veteran befuddled and outworked Grasso during their 15 minutes together at Toyota Center in Houston, emerging with a unanimous-decision victory that dealt one of the UFC's top rookies the first setback of her professional career.
Herrig bested Grasso in all areas, most surprisingly taking it to the highly touted prospect on the feet—where most observers expected Grasso to have a significant advantage.
"I think people forget [my skills]," Herrig told UFC color commentator Brian Stann in the cage when it was over. "They call me a grappler now because I've won by so many submissions, but I was a four-time champion in kickboxing."
The victory was Herrig's second straight in the Octagon and advanced her record to 3-1 in the UFC.
Perhaps at least some of the motivation to beat Grasso stemmed from Herrig's April 2015 loss to Paige VanZant. In that bout, she fell victim to one of the UFC's fast-rising potential drawing cards. In the wake of it, Herrig took 15 months away from the cage to get her mindset together. She has not lost since.
During her post-fight interview with Stann, she called the loss to VanZant her "rock bottom" and then called out the 22-year-old rookie for a rematch.
"Paige, you have not fought Felice Herrig," she said. "You fought some blubbering girl who just laid on the canvas and let you beat her."
Herrig seemed determined not to let the same thing happen against Grasso.
Insiders have pointed to Grasso as a potential breakout star since before her arrival in the UFC. She went 4-0 in the all-female Invicta FC from 2014 through mid-2016 and made her promotional debut with the world's largest MMA organization at the live finale of The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America 3 in November 2016 with a convincing win over Heather Jo Clark.
Grasso came into this bout around a 3-to-1 favorite, according to Odds Shark. Once the fight started, however, it proved to be Herrig's night.
She came out of her corner aggressively, pressuring Grasso with punching combinations and the occasional takedown. Grasso never seemed to find her rhythm and looked content to spend the majority of the fight on the outside, flicking out low kicks and trying to make Herrig miss.
The only substantive action in the first round came when Grasso tried to throw a jumping kick at Herrig's head but lost her balance and wound up on the canvas. Grasso tried to transition to a heel hook, but Herrig squirmed out and got back to her feet.
The second and third rounds progressed in much the same tepid fashion. Grasso didn't appear to feel much urgency, and every time she did come forward to fire off strikes, Herrig countered well with her right hand.
Grasso turned up the heat in the third, but it proved to be too little, too late. The fiercest striking exchange of the fight came during the final minute, when Grasso might have hurt Herrig with a punch. Herrig weathered it, and after the final horn sounded the judges awarded her the verdict (29-28, 29-28, 30-27).
It's unclear where the victory will leave Herrig. She came into the bout unranked in the 115-pound division. The UFC won't likely give her that rematch with VanZant, who is just 1-2 in her last three fights and in need of a career rehabilitation.
If the UFC brass want to hand Herrig a stiff upgrade in competition, a compelling future opponent could be former Invicta FC strawweight champion Angela Hill.
Hill lost a slugfest to top contender Jessica Andrade in the first fight on Fight Night 104's televised main card, but she made her case that she belongs among the best fighters in the world.
If not Hill, either No. 11 Jessica Aguilar or No. 7 Michelle Waterson (who Herring also called out after the fight) would shape up as recognizable next foes.
Meanwhile, Grasso goes back to the drawing board. Bleacher Report's Patrick Wyman tweeted after the fight that the 23-year-old phenom may need to switch things up in her training, perhaps leaving her Lobo Gym for something a bit more high profile:
As a native of Guadalajara, Mexico, Grasso could still eventually join Yair Rodriguez as an important cog in the UFC's drive to establish a foothold in that country's crazed fight market. She might even develop into an intriguing challenger for dominant UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk.
For now, however, the UFC will need to build her back up after her first professional loss. It will likely be awhile before she finds herself in a main event or co-main event situation again.
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