Alexa Grasso wants to follow in the footsteps of one of the all-time greats.
During a recent appearance at The MMA Hour ,, the flyweight contestant was asked about her respect for Georges St-Pierre. She said that he is one of her heroes in her fight career. Grasso is carving out her own legacy and currently holds the No. 9 spot in MMA Fighting’s Global Rankings after a quick submission win over Joanne Wood at UFC Columbus.
Not only does Grasso admire St-Pierre’s in-cage success, she hopes that she can live up to his ideals too and set an example for athletes in her native Mexico as he did for Canada.
“Georges St-Pierre is someone that, the respect, the discipline — I had his book too, I read it,” Grasso said. All my respect for him, that’s what I want. Because of this, I used to fight alongside my gi. He’s somebody I respect so much. I want to emulate him in Mexico sports and for women .”
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Grasso made her pro debut 2012 at the age of 19 and soon made short work of her overmatched competition, winning her first three fights by knockout in a combined 63 seconds. Less than two years later she signed with Invicta FC, where she compiled a perfect 4-0 record before making the jump to the UFC.
The MMA scene is very different in Mexico now than when Grasso started it. She is thrilled to see the legitimate support at grassroots level for the sport.
“Yes, I’ve seen it,” Grasso said. “Even in tournaments, we have a few tournaments here in Mexico, there are kids like so small they are competing, there are girls, now the white belts there are a lot of white belts, blue belts, it’s growing so fast.
“We also have MMA Tournaments in Mexico City, as well as [earlier this year] in Guadalajara for teens. This MMA sport is growing rapidly and gives parents discipline. .”
St-Pierre wasn’t the only person Grasso cited as an inspiration. Wood was also mentioned by Grasso, who also cited Gina Carano, a pioneer in women’s MMA and Wood as her inspirations.
Grasso describes the fight week interactions between herself and Wood as cordial, though she understands that some fighters may not want to fraternize too much with their upcoming opponents. Wood is a favorite of hers because she studied her closely before her Invicta FC debut in 2014..
” I remember making my debut at Invicta FC against Ashley [Cummins],” Grasso. It is always fun to see all of the fights when you’re going against somebody — and I’m not sure if anyone but me does that. One of the fights I [first saw Wood] was against JoJo. I thought, “Whoa! She has crispy striking, elbows, and kicking!” Now, I’m thinking, “OK, I’m going to try that.” I want to be like that.’
“So she’s someone I’ve been looking up to for a long time and I’ve been watching all her fights. I saw when she moved from 115 to 125 and to fight with her means a lot.”
