Maycee Barber feels an impressive win at UFC Seattle shoots her to the front of the line to fight Valentina Shevchenko for the flyweight title — even before Natalia Silva.
Barber faces former champion Alexa Grasso in a rematch in the co-main event of Saturday’s UFC Fight Night card. With Shevchenko currently waiting for her next title defense to be booked, Barber—who competes in her second fight in three months since returning from a lengthy health scare—believes the stars are lining up for her to make a big move to the top of title contention.
“I think the timing couldn’t be more perfect,” Barber told MMA Fighting. “I think that me coming off of a seven-fight win streak, beating her and having a dominant performance will put me at an eight-fight win streak, and her being a former title holder, it just is perfect. I’ll be undeniable at that point, I thought I was pretty undeniable before because I’m like, ‘seven- fight win streak, like, what more do I need to prove?’
“But now [I’ll be at an] eight-fight win streak with a finish over a former champion, like, I’ll have the belt. There’s nothing more that I need to do to prove it.”
In their first meeting in February 2021, Grasso earned a unanimous decision win over Barber at UFC 258. Now, Barber gets the fight she’s been asking for in order to try and right that wrong.
Silva will have something to say about the championship conversation having gone 8-0 to start to her UFC career, including wins over former champions Grasso, Jessica Andrade, and, most recently at January’s UFC 324 event, Rose Namajunas, in her past three outings.
When asked if an impressive win would leave her to get the winner of a potential Shevchenko vs. Silva matchup, or if she would leapfrog Silva, Barber tried to put herself in UFC CEO Dana White’s shoes.
“I don’t think Dana wants a point fighter as a champion,” Barber said. “I’m just guessing. I’m just making an assumption.”
Shevchenko has successfully defended her title twice in her second reign as champion. This past year, “Bullet” made a compelling case for the 2025 Fighter of the Year by handing Manon Fiorot her first UFC loss at UFC 315 this past May, and winning a lopsided decision against former strawweight champ — and then-pound-for-pound No. 1 women’s fighter — Zhang Weili at UFC 322 in November.
Barber is confident in the matchup, but her focus is on the task at hand.
“I think I match up great, but right now my focus is a Grasso, after I beat Grasso, then I’ll be talking about how I match up against Valentina,” Barber said. “But I think Valentina is getting older, and I think this is the perfect time for me to go and take that belt from her.”
Recently, Shevchenko found herself in the news for something completely out of her control. In a pre-event press conference promoting her upcoming fight against Gina Carano, Ronda Rousey was asked about UFC fighter pay, and she used Shevchenko as an example why things are trending in a bad direction.
“It’s why so many of their top athletes are leaving to go and find pay elsewhere,” Rousey said. “It’s why their champions like Valentina [Shevchenko] are selling pictures of their titties on OnlyFans. These people, a lot of them at the ground level, they can’t support their families. They’re living poverty-level fighting full-time.”
Barber was asked about Rousey’s comments.
“Ronda Rousey is the reason why Valentina gets to fight in the UFC,” Barber said. “And Valentina’s lack of personality is the reason why Valentina has an OnlyFans.”
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