‘The Future’ is in Las Vegas this weekend, and Maycee Barber is facing exactly the opponent she asked for in Roxanne Modafferi.
Las Vegas, NV — If flyweight Maycee Barber is truly the future, as her nickname would suggest, than UFC 246 this weekend could represent the dawn of a new age.
Barber (8-0) is 3-0 inside the octagon, after earning her spot on the roster on Dana White’s Contender Series. She’s never been defeated, and has finished all but one of her professional bouts. At UFC 246, the first PPV of 2020 for the world’s largest MMA promotion, and likely one of the biggest, Barber is facing longtime veteran Roxanne Modafferi.
Modafferi was quite literally fighting when the 21-year old Barber was just a kid. She’s fought for gold in Invicta FC and the UFC. A win over Roxy, frankly, means ‘The Future’ could be ready for bigger things.
Barber has certainly put the work in, training right through the holiday season. Although the sacrifice wasn’t as hard as you might imagine. “I have a family that supports me, so holidays — I was at the gym on Christmas Day, Christmas Eve, New Year’s Day, New Year’s Eve, with my brother, and actually Anthony and Sergio Pettis,” she told Cageside Press at the UFC 246 media day. “So we trained all through the holidays, and it was really easy.”
Barber, so far, is on track to get to a potential title shot well ahead of schedule, with the goal of becoming the UFC’s youngest champion. That record is currently held by Jon Jones. Of course, Barber isn’t there yet, and she expects others to get their chance first.
“I know that Joanne Calderwood wanted the title shot. That could be on track, to fight before I get to that title shot,” she suggested. Barber does, however, have a course to the belt plotted out.
“Usually when they send me the names, it’s usually the person I’ve already picked out,” Barber revealed. “I really wanted to fight Roxanne. She’s ranked ahead of me, and I wanted that fight to be able to continue the progress towards the top rank[ing].”
“We do have a plan, and we do have people that we would like to fight,” she continued. “Preferably, I was looking at either Joanne [Calderwood] or Jessica [Eye] after this one. But we’ll see. It’s not completely up to me, although I would like to think it is. It’s up to Dana [White], my team, and Mick [Maynard].”
Her first order of business is Modafferi, of course. As part of the biggest event Barber’s appeared on to date. The main event of Conor McGregor vs. Donald Cerrone will bring in the eyeballs, and Barber for one isn’t sure who to pick in that fight.
“I’m torn. I have the fans winning that fight. I’m just excited – I’ve never seen Conor so confident, so different. And Cowboy, he’s just himself. Honestly I just think it’s going to be a good fight,” she said.
“I couldn’t pick a winner, because I like them both.”
Maycee Barber takes on Roxanne Modafferi this Saturday, January 18, 2020 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV.
