Preview: UFC Fight Night 148 ‘Thompson vs. Pettis’

Women’s Flyweights

Maycee Barber (6-0) vs. J.J. Aldrich (7-2)

ODDS: Barber (-225), Aldrich (+185)

Colorado’s Barber looks like one of the best prospects in women’s MMA regardless of weight class, but it is going to be interesting to see how rocky the path gets in terms of her realizing her potential. Barber is best described as sickeningly young, as she signed shortly after her 20th birthday. Now less than two years into her career, she has shown a ton of potential. Barber’s striking and overall game remain a work in progress, but she has managed to fall back on a powerful clinch and wrestling attack, bullying her opponents and finishing them with some particularly vicious ground-and-pound. As she matures and gains muscle, that only figures to be a greater advantage, though her pre-emptive move to flyweight raises some interesting questions. Will the reduced weight cut allow Barber to come in stronger than ever, or will fighting against larger opponents neutralize her strengths? At any rate, those questions will not be answered against Aldrich, the she does present the toughest test yet for Barber.

Aldrich has enjoyed a surprising amount of success. Not that she was not a solid prospect in her own right when the UFC picked her up, but she has progressed much quicker than expected. In a way, Aldrich has probably had to. She is about as much of a non-athlete as there is on the UFC roster, so she has had to rely on a technically sharp boxing and clinch game to slowly control the terms of her fights. She has done well so far, as she has stayed out of trouble against the likes of Danielle Taylor and Polyana Viana, but that also makes her own move to 125 pounds a strange one, particularly since Aldrich did not stick out as a particularly large strawweight.

Even with both fighters moving up from 115 pounds, this seems like the fight where Aldrich’s lack of athleticism finally catches up to her. Barber is a strong fighter and knowledgeable when it comes to using that strength, so as soon as they lock up, it is easy to see Barber overwhelming Aldrich and laying on some damage. Of course, the issue is getting there first. Barber has her stretches where she plays a middling range game before getting more aggressive, and Aldrich has shown a solid jab and ability to keep opponents at a distance. Still, Barber should eventually refuse to be cowed and start to turn up the heat, at which point this will turn into a showcase. The pick is Barber via third-round stoppage.

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