Women's Flyweights
Maycee Barber (7-0) vs. Gillian Robertson (7-3)
Odds: Barber (-125), Robertson (+105)
As the UFC's women's flyweight division is sorting itself out, Maycee Barber is leading the charge for the next wave of prospects coming up the ranks. Having just turned 21 in May, Barber is quite young, but she's been vocal about her goal to become the youngest champion in the UFC's history, and if someone lesser than Valentina Shevchenko was reigning over the division, Barber might just have the ability to accomplish it. Barber's a horse of an athlete, strong and aggressive enough to overwhelm her opponents in the clinch and typically unleash brutal ground and pound that's earned her three of her six stoppage wins. Her March conquest of J.J. Aldrich was a particularly strong proof of concept. For one thing, it showed that Barber's strength could carry up a division to flyweight against an underrated fighter in Aldrich, but it also showed Barber's ability to adjust and overcome adversity; the first round saw Barber mostly get tagged up before coming back and earning a second round stoppage. Barber has a ceiling as high as anyone in the division, but in the short term she has another tough test in front of her, as Robertson is nipping at her heels in terms of top prospect status.
As they did with strawweight, the UFC kicked off the women's flyweight division with a season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” and Canada's Robertson has been one of the more pleasant surprises coming out of that cast. Robertson didn't have much of a resume coming into the show -- her most notable fight was a loss to Cynthia Calvillo -- and Barb Honchak handled her in the actual tournament, but Robertson has spent her actual UFC career evolving from fight to fight and showing off a particularly venomous grappling game. Her striking's still a work in progress, but as long as Robertson can get things into the clinch, she's been able to hunt for limbs and strong positions and has had success doing so; against Sarah Frota in July, "The Savage" was able to end things with some strong ground and pound of her own rather than earning the tap. Robertson doesn't have quite the high-level athleticism of someone like Barber, so there's probably a ceiling near the top of the division, but as long as Robertson continues to improve at her typical rate, she should also be in the title picture within a few years.
Robertson should be able to make this a tricky fight, but it's all Barber's to lose. These two are best in the clinch and on the mat, so if each decides to avoid the other's strength and makes this a kickboxing match, this could be a mess; Barber's the much more powerful fighter, but also slower, so Robertson could take the tack of trying to pick Barber apart from range in ugly and uninspiring fashion. But if things do go into the clinch, while Robertson has the type of submission game that could easily hand Barber her first prospect loss, Barber's strength and physicality could make things one-sided in a hurry; Hannah Cifers and Aldrich couldn't handle the brutal combinations that Barber can unleash in close quarters, and there's not a ton to suggest that Robertson can do the same. This should be fun, but this is one of those bouts where athleticism makes for an unfair advantage; the pick is Barber via second-round stoppage.
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