Alexa Grasso is reportedly out of her UFC 324 clash with Rose Namajunas, thwarting the planned clash of former champions.
Ex-flyweight champion Grasso was due to face Namajunas, who previously held the strawweight title twice, in Las Vegas on 24 January.
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However, multiple reports emerged on Wednesday that Grasso is out of the flyweight bout, with top contender Natalia Silva stepping in.
Silva, ranked second at 125lb, in fact beat Grasso last time out, outpointing the Mexican at UFC 315 in May. With that, Silva built on a win against another former champion, Jessica Andrade, in her previous fight.
Now, the Brazilian will try to make it three in a row against former title holders as she faces Namajunas in Las Vegas.
Silva, 28, will enter the T-Mobile Arena on a 13-fight win streak dating back to 2018, while she is 8-0 in the UFC since her promotional debut in 2021.
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Meanwhile, Namajunas is 3-2 since moving up to flyweight in 2023, with a decision win over Miranda Maverick in June marking her most-recent result. She is ranked sixth in the division.
Alexa Grasso was due to fight Rose Namajunas at UFC 324 (Getty)
Former two-time strawweight champion Namajunas (Getty Images)
The American’s move to flyweight followed her decision defeat by Carla Esparza in 2022, which marked the end of Namajunas’s second reign as strawweight champion.
Namajunas, 33, first held the belt from 2017 until 2019 before regaining it in 2021. She holds five wins over three different UFC champions: two against Zhang Weili, two against Joanna Jedrzejczyk, and one over Andrade.
