Maycee Barber Willing to Face Paige VanZant in Brooklyn
Maycee Barber (6-0) has offered to step in for Rachael Ostovich (4-4) against Paige VanZant (7-4) on January 19 when the UFC returns to the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn. The unfortunate circumstances that had Ostovich removed from the card, leaves VanZant without an opponent. Barber has offered herself up after her recent win at UFC Fight Night 139 to face VanZant in Brooklyn.
Barber has made it known she expects to be the youngest UFC champion and underlined that statement in her post-fight interview. She seems willing to face the toughest opponents to get closer to her goal. Her second round finish of Hannah Cifers was her debut fight in the UFC and she said, “I came here to do what I need to do and I try to finish every single fight.”
Barber called out Mackenzie Dern after her win in Denver because she is ranked number 15 in the strawweight division. A fight with the unranked VanZant keeps her active and a win over the fan favorite could put her in a top 15 ranked future bout in the flyweight division.
The January 19 bout is VanZant’s return to action after taking a year off to mend a broken arm from her last fight against Jessica Rose-Clark in January of 2018, where she fought the full three rounds and lost via unanimous decision. It looks like Barber is not only paying attention to who is ranked above her but also knows the names of fighters to come after to get her name in the rankings within the UFC.
Barber may be a little more than VanZant has been preparing for but finishing a fight with a broken arm is no easy feat either.
