Alexa Grasso cruised to a unanimous decision victory in her UFC debut but Felice Herrig looks to make Grasso’s second go around in the UFC a lot harder.

Despite having a dominant champion in Joanna Jedrzejczyk the UFC’s strawweight division is not lacking in personalities to promote the division and keep the interest level at a high with fans. Alexa Grasso and Felice Herrig are two of those personalities that have the fans interest and being placed as the co-main event for Saturday’s UFC Fight Night event is only proof of that.

Grasso (9-0) was a standout during her time in Invicta FC an in her two years there she compiled a 4-0 record before moving on to the UFC. In her debut she defeated Heather Clark via a unanimous decision furthering her supporter’s claims as being one of the top up and coming talents in women’s mixed marital arts. Four of her nine career wins have come by way of knockout and in her UFC debut she landed 65 significant strikes and landed 120 total strikes.

The UFC’s desire to expand into the Mexican market has been no secret and being a native of Mexico Grasso is definitely high on the interest level of the UFC. With Cain Velasquez being injured quite often the UFC needs stars to showcase to fans in Mexico and the Mexican-American fight fans in the United States. Grasso could fit the bill nicely if she can put together some key wins in the UFC.

Herrig (11-6) is no stranger to being pitted against a fighter who has a high marketability promise. She faced Paige VanZant in what was only VanZant’s second career UFC bout. The similarities between her bout with VanZant and Grasso are too big to ignore. Being a tough fighter and being a gatekeeper are two different things entirely. For VanZant to be truly considered legit she had to beat Herrig and the same can be said for Grasso. For Herrig, being the first big test for any up and coming fighter may not be a role she wants but at 32 years old her time for a push at the title may be running out. Herring was a contestant on the “Ultimate Fighter” though she did not with the tournament she did win her UFC debut against Lisa Ellis. After he loss to VanZant she bounced back with a submission win over Kailin Curran last summer.

This bout is really a story of a potential star going up against a veteran who feels as though her time is not up to make an impact in the division.