MMA Junkie's 2023 Coach of the Year: Francisco Grasso

The name Francisco Grasso probably didn’t ring a bell entering 2023, but leaving the past calendar year, it’s associated with UFC gold and Mexican MMA history.

Francisco, or better known as “Pancho,” truly let his work speak for himself. In a sport where media attention or public narrative often sways the appreciation of fighters or moments in time, Francisco left a big imprint in 2023 without ever doing an English-language interview and very limited interviews in Spanish.

Francisco had his hand in many important moments this 2023, but most notably he made history with his niece – Alexa Grasso. Under the tutelage of Francisco, Alexa became the first-ever Mexican female champion in the UFC, and they did it when many thought it was impossible.

Alexa was up against an all-time great, one of the most dominant champions in UFC history, regardless of gender and weight class. Alexa and her team, led by Francisco, had the tough task of dethroning Valentina Shevchenko, who at that point had seven consecutive title defenses and had never lost at flyweight.

The Grasso bloodline ended up pulling off one of the biggest upsets of 2023, and made history for their home country. Against all odds, Alexa submitted Shevchenko in March at UFC 285. It was a remarkable moment that highlighted the great work being done at Lobo Gym in Guadalajara. The two would return six months later in September to fight Shevchenko to a draw.

Even though it wasn’t a win, the fact that Grasso retained her belt and fought Shevchenko in a highly competitive decision, proved that the upset in March was no fluke and that Francisco and his team had truly leveled up to a world-class gym.

Francisco’s work as a coach was responsible for MMA Junkie’s Female Fighter of the Year and one of the biggest upsets as well. It’s incredible how much impact Lobo Gym had in MMA, given it’s not in a country with a strong history in MMA and is relatively small compared to titans such as American Top Team, AKA, Kill Cliff, and others.

On top of the historic win of Alexa, other results accompanied Francisco’s success as a coach in 2023. It wasn’t Alexa’s rise alone:

Diego Lopes

Francisco was responsible for MMA Junkie’s Female Fighter of the Year, and also MMA Junkie’s Newcomer of the Year.

Diego Lopes had a huge impact in 2023 and enters 2024 as one of the most interesting prospects. Working with Francisco as both a fighter and assistant coach, Lopes showed brilliance every second he was in the octagon.

He gave a wild, Fight of the Night against unbeaten title contender Mosvar Evloev, a fight he took on 4 days’ notice. Following his debut, Lopes picked up a first-round submission win over Gavin Tucker in August and then a first-round KO over Pat Sabatini in November. He won $50,000 Performance of the Night bonuses in both finishes.

Loopy Godinez

Loopy Godinez made history with Lobo Gym in 2023. She became the woman with the most wins in a calendar year, having her hand raised four times in the octagon.

Francisco took Loopy Godinez under his wing mid-2023, but Godinez had worked part-time with Lobo Gym for fights earlier in the year. There’s no denying that Godinez turned a corner with Lobo Gym, as she looked highly dominant and got herself in the top 10 of the UFC official strawweight rankings with her win over Tabatha Ricci in November.

Irene Aldana

Francisco got top UFC women’s bantamweight contender Irene Aldana to challenge Amanda Nunes for her title at UFC 289. Certainly, it was a disappointing performance from Aldana, who was dominated from bell to bell. However, people forget that just getting to a UFC title fight alone is a big achievement few fighters accomplish in their careers.

Aldana would return to UFC 296 in December to redeem herself and defeat Karol Rosa while delivering arguably the best female fighter of the year.

Alessandro Costa

Alessandro Costa picked up a big win over Jimmy Flick in June, putting him away with some nasty elbows. He then took on ranked fighter Steve Erceg and lost a competitive decision. Although Costa closed out the year with a loss, he still shows promise in the UFC’s flyweight division.