UFC 315 Preview and Prediction: Alexa Grasso – Natalia Silva

Tomorrow night on the main card of UFC 315, we will see the return of a former world champion. Alexa Grasso (16-4-1) will make the walk for the first time since she lost the flyweight title as she takes on surging top contender Natalia Silva (18-5-1).

Starting with the former champion, she makes her return after losing the title to Valentina Shevchenko at Noche UFC back in September. Grasso shocked the world in March 2023 when she submitted Shevchenko ending her reign of dominance. The two had an immediate rematch where they fought to a draw before Shevchenko ultimately won the third fight. Despite them being 1-1-1, the third fight was so dominant for Shevchenko that Grasso didn’t get an immediate rematch.

Now, she’ll be forced to take on Natalia Silva who is the betting favorite tomorrow night. Back in 2017, a very green Silva lost to Marina Rodriguez and that dropped her to 6-5-1. Since that loss to Rodriguez, Silva has gone 12-0 including 6-0 in the UFC with wins over the likes of Jessica Andrade, Viviane Araujo, and Jasmine Jasudavicius.

UFC 315 Prediction

A lot of people probably saw this fight on paper and assumed that Grasso is a good bet because she’s the former champion who did dethrone Valentina Shevchenko. However, I think the oddsmakers have this one right with Natalia Silva being the betting favorite.

Grasso has good skills on the ground and good boxing, but she struggles with being aggressive. That’s going to be a big problem against the very aggressive and technically sound Natalia Silva. Silva is very powerful on the feet and I think her volume and power is going to give Grasso a lot of issues at UFC 315.

I also don’t see Grasso being able to use her grappling to win this one either. Silva on the ground is constantly moving and aggressive while Grasso just seems to accept bad positions at times. Grasso is obviously talented enough to win this fight, but I’m going with Silva in this one and Grasso is going to have to prove a lot of us wrong and become more aggressive.

Prediction: Natalia Silva by Decision