4. ‘The Future’ is still not the present
That was a rough go of things for [autotag]Maycee Barber[/autotag]. Injury or not, aspects of her game were exposed, and we learned she’s not everything that many (including yours truly) thought she was. Barber crashed and burned as the biggest favorite on the card, succumbing to the veteran savvy of Roxanne Modafferi for her first career loss.
Assuming the knee injury Barber sustained in the bout isn’t something that causes her long-term issues, there’s good odds she only flourishes from this. Her post-fight demeanor indicates that’s what’s going to happen, but that goal of becoming the youngest champion in UFC history seems loftier than ever – especially in a division run by Valentina Shevchenko, who you could only imagine would punish Barber in a frightening way if she can’t add more depth to her arsenal in the coming years.
5. Diego Ferreira breaks through
[autotag]Diego Ferreira[/autotag] continued to emphasize that he’s a player to watch in the loaded UFC lightweight division when he utterly dominated Anthony Pettis to push his winning streak to six fights.
Ferreira beat some of the division’s most underrated names, such as Rustam Khabilov and Mairbek Taisumov, to earn the matchup with “Showtime.” His submission win over Pettis on a big platform provided some much-needed recognition for his career.
Coach Sayif Saud continues to grow a dangerous staple of athletes at Fortis MMA in Texas, and Ferreira is one of the names leading the bunch. He deserves a top-10 foe after this latest win, but he’s going to be hard pressed convincing one of the elite names at lightweight to agree to fight him, and for good reason. He doesn’t come to play.