Maverick came through in a must-win situation, and it will be
interesting to see where she goes from here. Maverick arrived in
the UFC in 2020 as a highly touted powerhouse of a wrestler, and a
striking-heavy debut win over Liana Jojua
only raised her stock further. However, the tail end of 2021 saw
Maverick hit a clear wall against the fellow early-20 somethings
rising through the ranks. She was the more effective fighter but
gave up initiative to Maycee
Barber, allowing Barber to steal a controversial decision.
Erin
Blanchfield was then able to outwrestle and outwork Maverick
without much issue. There was a sense that Maverick was becoming
technical to a fault, which made it nice to see everything come
together for her in a March win over Sabina Mazo
that saw her score a second-round submission. She should be able to
build on things here against Young in a rematch of a 2019
exhibition bout in Invicta Fighting Championships that saw Maverick
score a first-round submission. Young got the late-notice call for
a 2020 UFC debut at bantamweight against Macy
Chiasson, then surprisingly remained at 135 pounds for a
subsequent loss to Stephanie
Egger. Young is a well-rounded enough fighter but did not have
the physicality necessary to make much progress up a weight class.
Young’s cut back down to 125 pounds paid immediate dividends; she
got outwrestled early by Gina Mazany
but stayed in the fight long enough to turn things around and score
a sudden finish. There probably will not be that turn in this
assignment, however. If anything, it seems likelier that Maverick
finds a submission before Young finds an opening to turn the fight
her way. The pick is Maverick via second-round submission.
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