At 25, UFC flyweight Miranda Maverick is entering her sixth pro fight with the promotion, and fighting out her existing contract in the process.
Maverick (10-4) has been a blue-chip prospect in the women’s flyweight division for years. After a couple of bumps in the road, she got back in the win column last time out, submitting Sabina Mazo.
Next up, she’s been booked against Shanna Young, a rematch from the pair’s time in Invicta FC. The match-up has turned heads, in the sense that Young is an unranked fighter, and many expect Maverick to be flirting with the rankings.
“They’ve offered me higher girls and I’ve taken the fights, and I’d be happy to fight top 15,” Maverick said in a recent exclusive interview with Cageside Press. “But if they want to give me someone who’s a brand new name coming into the UFC, or someone who’s not ranked, I’m more than happy to take that until it starts mattering with the money. And when I’m getting paid enough to fight these top 10 girls, I’m going to be like ‘hey, don’t give me the slackers anymore, I’m running for a title run.'”
That, however, is not her goal at the moment. “Right now, that’s not what I’m aiming at. This is going to be the last fight on my contract. I was going to renegotiate, but well, that didn’t happen. So instead we’re basically fighting it out. So this one, I feel like not necessarily a lot of pressure, because I’m confident either way, but I’m hoping that I can get a little bigger money for this one, and then go forward after that to get the bigger, better opponents.”
As Maverick pointed out, she was fighting top 15 girls in her second fight in the UFC. “I was like ‘hey, I need to be paid more’ then. And now, I feel like all of us should be paid a little more, just compared to other professional athletes. Everybody wants to compare to other MMA promotions, but I don’t think that’s accurate. I think it should be compared to other athletes in general.”
A win over Young, who Maverick defeated as part of the Invicta Phoenix Series 2 tournament in 2019, should go a long way to getting the flyweight the sort of deal she’s looking for. The Team Elevation fighter — she joined the Colorado camp last year — explained that in the pair’s first meeting, she was still coming into her own as a striker.
“At the time I was just then starting to learn striking a little bit better, transitioning from being a full-blown grappler into being more of a striker as well and being well-rounded,” Maverick recalled. “And now I feel almost more confident in my striking than I do in my grappling; the tides have shifted there. And I just fell very well-rounded. She took a couple of years off, had her kid and everything, I think that’s going to work to my advantage. But some people need breaks, so she’s going to come back strong and hungry. She’s also coming off a couple losses in her UFC career, but so was I. I just feel like they were different levels in the game. So I’m excited to go in there and kind of put it all together this time.”
Miranda Maverick faces Shanna Young at UFC 278 on August 20, 2022 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Be sure to check out our full interview with the flyweight talent above.
