Is Valentina Shevchenko undergoing surgery after Noche UFC? Full story of Noche UFC incident, surgery updates and more

Valentina Shevchenko's most recent octagon outing witnessed her face UFC women's flyweight champion Alexa Grasso in a rematch. Their first fight saw Grasso beat Shevchenko via fourth-round submission in a back-and-forth fight in March 2023, thereby ending 'Bullet's' lengthy flyweight title reign.

Their rematch headlined the Noche UFC event on September 16th, 2023. It was a closely contested fight, and this time around, their matchup went the distance. The rematch ended in a split draw, owing to which Mexico's Grasso retained the flyweight belt.

During the Noche UFC post-fight press conference, former UFC women's flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko asserted that she seemingly suffered a right thumb injury in round one. 'Bullet' continued fighting for the five-round duration of the bout and notably landed several strikes with both hands despite having suffered the injury on her right hand.

The 35-year-old Kyrgyzstani-Peruvian martial artist earned widespread praise for the same. However, the extensive use of her injured right hand for the rest of the fight appears to have caused her a comminuted fracture, which requires surgery. Taking to her Twitter (X) account, Shevchenko shed light on her injury and surgery. 'Bullet' tweeted the following:

"Yesterday got the results on my 1 st round hand injury. Comminuted fracture that requires surgery"

Generally, a comminuted fracture, a fracture in which a bone is broken in at least two places, would necessitate surgery and rehab for a few months. The consensus is that Shevchenko would be unable to resume striking training for about three months, which has led to speculation that the UFC could have Grasso defend her title against top contenders Erin Blanchfield or Manon Fiorot instead.

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UFC CEO Dana White on potential trilogy fight between Valentina Shevchenko and Alexa Grasso

After the thrilling rematch between Valentina Shevchenko and Alexa Grasso at the Noche UFC event on Mexican Independence Day (September 16th), the fight's scoring has been the biggest talking point to emerge from it. Judge Sal D'Amato scored it for Shevchenko, judge Junichiro Kamijo had it for Grasso, whereas judge Mike Bell scored it a draw.

In regards to the overall scores, it's been emphasized that if Mike Bell hadn't scored the fifth round as a 10-8 for Alexa Grasso, Valentina Shevchenko would have been awarded the split decision win and the flyweight title. Akin to many others in the MMA community, UFC CEO Dana White lambasted Bell for scoring the razor-close fifth round as 10-8 for Grasso.

During the latest DWCS (Dana White's Contender Series) post-event press conference, Dana White acknowledged that Valentina Shevchenko might have to wait about three months after undergoing surgery before she can start striking again. Nevertheless, the UFC boss indicated that the Grasso-Shevchenko title trilogy is likely next for both fighters. White stated:

“You have to do the rematch. We will rematch them. It’s the right thing to do. It’s the fight that needs to happen, and yeah.”

Check out White's comments at 5:55 in the video below: