com ahead of her flyweight bout against Grasso at UFC Noche on September 13 at Glendale, Arizona. “I'm pretty sure the winner on Saturday evening will fight for the belt in the next fight.”
The title picture had changed just days before Fiorot's fight. On September 5, the UFC announced that Valentina Shevchenko had vacated the women's flyweight championship after telling the promotion she would be unable to compete for at least a year.
Shevchenko had been scheduled to defend the belt against No. 1 contender Natalia Silva at UFC 332 on October 3, but her injury forced that fight to be scrapped.
Shevchenko is expected to return and compete for the title once she is healthy. The vacant belt will now be contested by Silva and Wang Cong in the UFC 332 main event in Salt Lake City.
Silva is 8-0 in the UFC and has won 14 straight fights, with her recent run including victories over former champions Rose Namajunas and Grasso, as well as former title challenger Jessica Andrade. Shevchenko’s exit changes the title pictureFor Fiorot, ranked No.
2, the change has made the route to another title opportunity look shorter. The 36-year-old French fighter is 13-2 as a professional and 8-1 in the UFC.
Her only UFC defeat came against Shevchenko in a five-round decision at UFC 315 in May 2025, after Fiorot had opened her UFC career with seven straight wins. She returned five months later and stopped Jasmine Jasudavicius in 1:14 of the first round.
“Yes, I think it's better for me,” Fiorot said of Shevchenko's departure. “Because it will allow the whole category to fight more.
And I think I will have the title fight more quickly than if it was Valentina. I would have had to wait for Valentina if she had won in October.”
The immediate hurdle though is Grasso, the No. 3 contender and former UFC women's flyweight champion.
The 33-year-old Mexican enters with a 17-5-1 professional record. She became champion in March 2023 after submitting Shevchenko with a fourth-round face crank.
Their rematch six months later ended in a split draw before Shevchenko regained the belt with a unanimous decision in their third meeting in September 2024. Grasso then lost a unanimous decision to Silva at UFC 315.
