Maycee Barber will finally get her shot at redemption against Alexa Grasso, and she can’t hardly wait.
Barber (15-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) runs things back with former flyweight champion Grasso (16-5-1 MMA, 8-5-1 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 271 (Paramount+) co-main event at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle.
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Barber’s first-career loss came in a massive upset to Roxanne Modafferi, a fight in which she blew out her knee in Round 1. However, it was the loss that came right after, to Grasso, at UFC 258 that didn’t sit well with her.
“When I lost to Grasso, I lost to the better fighter that night,” Barber told MMA Junkie. “There were a lot of things in my life and in my head and in my career that just weren’t ideal, that weren’t me. I wasn’t in the position that I am now. I wasn’t the best fighter that I could be, and so I lost to the better fighter. And I feel like I’m a better fighter now than I was back then. Also, I won the third round against Grasso. The person and fighter that I was in the third round was the fighter that I truly was when I fought Grasso. So, the me that I should have been in that fight when I fought Grasso didn’t show up in the first and second round.
“And I’m like, ‘I have unfinished business with her.’ That’s how I feel. I didn’t show up in the first and second. I didn’t go, I didn’t show up. I lost the first two rounds, she definitely won them, and I won the third, and I’m like, ‘I have unfinished stuff.’ I need to get it back, I have to get it back, and she knows it. She knows exactly what I bring to the table, and she can feel it. She felt it in the third round. I know for a fact that Grasso doesn’t want to fight that girl from the third round for three rounds again. That’s why I’ve been pushing for it and why that one matters so much to me, is because I know the fighter that I am, and I know what I bring to the table.”
Barber will be vying for a title shot alongside the likes of Natalia Silva and Manon Fiorot. The 27-year-old explained why she thinks she has the best case with a win over Grasso.
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“I think (the UFC is) 100 percent waiting because I think I’m the most exciting fighter in the division,” Barber said. “Hands down, I am the most exciting fighter in the 125-pound division. I don’t think there’s a single fighter in the division right now that has the ability to talk the way I do, fight the way I do, and dominate the way I do everywhere in the whole entire flyweight division.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC Seattle: Maycee Barber seeks revenge, title shot vs. Alexa Grasso
