Tag: Maycee Barber

UFC 258 results: Alexa Grasso sharp, holds off Maycee Barber for unanimous decision win

Alexa Grasso’s ascent up the women’s flyweight rankings will continue after UFC 258.

[autotag]Alexa Grasso[/autotag]’s ascent up the women’s flyweight rankings will continue after UFC 258.

In the co-main event, Grasso (13-3 MMA, 5-3 UFC) picked apart [autotag]Maycee Barber[/autotag] en route to a unanimous decision victory by 29-28 scores from all three judges.

The women’s flyweight bout took place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. It aired on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on ESPN+.

The opening round was closely contested in the clinch and on the feet. Grasso was the calmer and more composed of the two fighters as she stayed on the outside, controlled the clinch, and landed the better shots in the pocket when the two exchanged.

Grasso’s best moment came in Round 2 when she rocked Barber (8-2 MMA, 3-2 UFC) with a powerful left hand. Barber was stunned but avoided any further onslaught. Midway through the round, Barber turned the tables when she landed a combination and took Grasso down. However, Grasso reversed position and took Barber’s back. The round ended as Grasso sought a rear-naked choke.

In Round 3, Barber turned up the volume. After a brief takedown, Barber slung punches at Grasso, who tried to remain calm on the retreat. Fighting with a sense of urgency, Barber gunned for the finish, but she’d never find it.

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Grasso, 27, turns a win into a winning streak and remains undefeated in the UFC at flyweight. In August, Grasso defeated Ji Yeon Kim by unanimous decision. She has now won three of her most recent four fights.

Barber, 22, drops her second straight fight following an upset loss to former UFC women’s flyweight title challenger Roxanne Modafferi in January 2020. In the loss, Barber tore her ACL – an injury that required surgery and kept her out for more than a year.

Up-to-the-minute UFC 258 results include:

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Twitter reacts to Alexa Grasso’s victory over Maycee Barber at UFC 258

Check below for the top Twitter reactions to Alexa Grasso’s victory over Maycee Barber at UFC 258.

[autotag]Maycee Barber[/autotag]’s quick rise in MMA took another hit on Saturday when “The Future” suffered a second consecutive loss in her UFC 258 fight with [autotag]Alexa Grasso[/autotag].

Grasso (13-3 MMA, 5-3 UFC) put together one of the finest performance of her career in outpointing Barber (8-2 MMA, 3-2 UFC) over the course of their three-round strawweight matchup to win a unanimous decision. Her victory at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas gave Grasso back-to-back octagon triumphs for the first time.

See the top Twitter reactions to Grasso’s victory against Barber in the UFC 258 co-main event.

Video: Maycee Barber, Alexa Grasso on mark for UFC 258 co-main event

Co-main event fighters Maycee Barber and Alexa Grasso stepped on the scale at the UFC 258 official weigh-ins Friday.

LAS VEGAS – The UFC 258 co-main event is set in Las Vegas.

Women’s flyweight contenders [autotag]Maycee Barber[/autotag] (8-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) and [autotag]Alexa Grasso[/autotag] (12-3 MMA, 4-3 UFC) meet in the co-feature Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on ESPN+.

Friday, Barber and Grasso hit their marks at the official weigh-ins. Check out their trips to the scale in the video above.

Maycee Barber says she’s ready for co-main event spotlight at UFC 258

Maycee Barber had a tough 2021, but she’s ready for a fresh start.

LAS VEGAS — There’s little doubt 2020 was a challenging year for [autotag]Maycee Barber[/autotag].

For one thing, there were the issues we all had to deal with during the coronavirus pandemic. Add in a serious knee injury that required surgery, and the always-active Barber (8-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) found herself going a little bit out of her mind.

“There was a lot,” Barber said at Wednesday’s UFC 258 media day. “I had the injury, then I had surgery, then COVID and the quarantine and a lot of different things, just as a fighter and an athlete. Being taken out of the gym and training, that’s hard because I went from being an athlete since I was 3 years old and training my entire life and being active to, ‘OK, now you’re out.’ You can’t even walk unless you’re on crutches. You have a brace. You can’t do anything physical for a while, and it’s like, what do I do? What am I supposed to do with myself?”

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Compounding matters was Barber’s first loss, a major upset to Roxanne Modafferi in which she injured her knee early, but still went the distance. The 22-year-old Barber, who meets Alexa Grasso in a flyweight fight Saturday, has confidently said she’s going to become the UFC’s youngest champion, and the loss brought much social media backlash.

But as far as Barber is concerned, it only shows that people care enough to pay attention.

“I try not to pay too much attention, because deep down I knew I was prepared to go into a fight,” Barber said of the response to the loss. “You sign on the line to fight. You know, you’re saying, ‘I’m ready to get into the octagon with another person and get locked in the cage, and one of them is going to go down.’ I suffered an injury and I suffered a very bad one – I still am going to fight through it. People on the outside are always going to have something to say, whether it’s good or bad. The thing that matters is they have something to say – they have an opinion on it. … I didn’t really care if it was good or bad. It’s like, ‘Hey, they’re commenting.'”

That was 2020, and this is 2021. Barber is back, and she’s in one of the highest profile spots of her career in the co-feature slot of a pay-per-view event and taking on a highly touted competitor in Grasso (12-3 MMA, 4-3 UFC).

And as far as Barber is concerned, everything she’s been through in the past year to get back to this point all will pay off once she steps into the cage.

“She’s tough, you know?” Barber said. “She’s a great fighter. She’s strong, (has) a great following behind her, I’ve got a great following behind me – I think it’s a great fight. There’s going to be a lot of eyes – it’s co-main event. We have a great fight ahead of us. I’m super excited for it and I’m ready to go out and get a finish.”

UFC 258 takes place Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on ESPN+.

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UFC 258 pre-event facts: Kamaru Usman’s winning streak nears historic mark

The best facts and figures about UFC 258, which features a Kamaru Usman vs. Gilbert Burns welterweight title main event.

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The UFC is back again on Saturday with UFC 258, which takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas with a main card that airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+.

A welterweight championship fight with a number of underlying storylines takes place in the main event. Reigning titleholder [autotag]Kamaru Usman[/autotag] (17-1 MMA, 12-0 UFC) faces former teammate [autotag]Gilbert Burns[/autotag] (19-3 MMA, 12-3 UFC) in a curious clash of two fighters who know each other well.

For more on the headliner, as well as the rest of the card, check below for 50 pre-event facts about UFC 258.

UFC 258 ‘Embedded,’ No. 1: Gilbert Burns feels ‘like a million bucks’ ahead of title shot

Watch the first edition of UFC 258 “Embedded.”

The UFC returns Saturday night with its second pay-per-view of the year, UFC 258, where the UFC welterweight title will be on the line.

UFC 258 takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and streams on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+.

In the main event, UFC 170-pound champion [autotag]Kamaru Usman[/autotag] (17-1 MMA, 12-0 UFC) defends his belt for a third time against former teammate [autotag]Gilbert Burns[/autotag] (19-3 MMA, 12-3 UFC). And in the co-headliner, Maycee Barber (8-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) returns after a year-long layoff due to a knee injury to take on rising flyweight contender Alexa Grasso (12-3 MMA, 4-3 UFC).

The first episode of “Embedded” follows the two headliners, as well as big-name star [autotag]Kelvin Gasatelum[/autotag] (16-6 MMA, 10-6 UFC), who faces Ian Heinisch (14-3 MMA, 3-2 UFC) at the event. Here’s the UFC’s description from YouTube:

Kelvin Gastelum keeps his training close to home, finishing up in an ice bath. Champion Kamaru Usman and former teammate Gilbert Burns wrap up intense camps ahead of their overdue title showdown.

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UFC 258: Make your predictions for Kamaru Usman vs. Gilbert Burns

We want your predictions for Saturday’s UFC 258 in Las Vegas, featuring a welterweight title fight between Kamaru Usman and Gilbert Burns.

We want your predictions for Saturday’s UFC 258 event in Las Vegas.

Our staff picks feature includes the consensus picks from MMA Junkie readers. Simply cast your vote for each bout below, and we’ll use the official tallies that are registered by Thursday at noon ET (9 a.m. PT).

Those MMA Junkie reader consensus picks will be part of the UFC 258 event staff predictions we release Friday ahead of the event. UFC 258 takes place Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on ESPN+.

Make your picks for the five main card fights below.

USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings, Feb. 2: Big month ahead at heavyweight

Check out the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings before a busy February slate kicks into high gear.

After taking a week off, the UFC is back this Saturday with UFC Fight Night 184 to kick off a busy February that is sure to cause plenty of movement in the USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings.

Among the fights to watch:

  • No. 6 [autotag]Alistair Overeem[/autotag] vs. No. 7 [autotag]Alexander Volkov[/autotag], heavyweight
  • No. 3 [autotag]Cory Sandhagen[/autotag] vs. No. 4 [autotag]Frankie Edgar[/autotag], bantamweight
  • No. 1 [autotag]Kamaru Usman[/autotag] vs. No. 2 [autotag]Gilbert Burns[/autotag], welterweight
  • No. 5 [autotag]Pedro Munhoz[/autotag] vs. No. 11 [autotag]Jimmie Rivera[/autotag], bantamweight
  • No. 14 [autotag]Maycee Barber[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Alexa Grasso[/autotag], women’s flyweight
  • No. 3 [autotag]Curtis Blaydes[/autotag] vs. No. 4 [autotag]Derrick Lewis[/autotag], heavyweight
  • No. 5 [autotag]Jairzinho Rozenstruik[/autotag] vs. No. 8 [autotag]Cyril Gane[/autotag], heavyweight

For those keeping track, the month features three heavyweight main events featuring the Nos. 3 through 8 in our rankings. A lot is at stake among the big men in February.

Get caught up with all of the rankings in the dropdowns above.

After training camp change, Maycee Barber says she’s ‘evolved a ton’ ahead of return at UFC 258

Maycee Barber explained how she has instituted some changes ahead of her return against Alexa Grasso at UFC 258.

[autotag]Maycee Barber[/autotag] has undergone some changes ahead of her octagon return.

Barber (8-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) has been sidelined since her Jan. 18 decision loss to Roxanne Modafferi due to a torn ACL, and has moved to Chicago in preparation for her comeback fight against [autotag]Alexa Grasso[/autotag] at UFC 258.

Barber is currently training under the tutelage of wrestling coach Israel Martinez and striking coach Mike Valle in “The Windy City,” where the likes of ranked contenders Yair Rodriguez, Belal Muhammad and Julianna Pena also train.

“I’ve been training with Izzy since I was 15 or 16 down in Albuquerque,” Barber told MMA Junkie. “And now I’ve known that’s he’s been up here, and I’ve trained back and forth with him. But then meeting coach Mike happened just through watching some fights and figuring out what gyms are around in the area, even though Milwaukee is not that far from Chicago.

“So (I) just researched and finally connected with him and he’s a really great coach, and I feel like him and Izzy really work well together and it’s just gonna be really good for this camp and my career.”

Barber faces Mexico’s Grasso (12-3 MMA, 4-3 UFC), who had a successful 125-pound debut in August, when she defeated Ji Yeon Kim via unanimous decision.

Prior to her first career loss to Modafferi, Barber had a lot of momentum having scored stoppage wins in her first three UFC fights, and hopes to pick up where she left off in her return against an established name like Grasso.

“She’s got a big name behind her so I think it’ll be a good fight and it’s a different style from what I’ve already fought,” Barber said. “She’s tough, and I’m really excited to have this fight, especially as a comeback. Even her moving up from 115 to 125, that’s something similar to what I did, so I feel like we match up well, and I’m super excited for this fight.”

She continued, “At this point in time, we’re looking at different routes to take, and I feel like with my evolvement as an athlete and fighter, I feel like we could win and beat her everywhere. So where we choose to do that, is gonna come throughout the camp and throughout fight week and all the way up to the fight. But I truly believe that I’ve evolved a ton, and I’ve learned and I’ve grown a lot since the injury, and I feel like it helped me mature a lot so I feel like I could take this fight anywhere and win.”