Outside Source
Maycee Barber doesn’t lack for confidence just one bout into her Ultimate Fighting Championship tenure.
The 20-year-old prospect had a memorable Octagon debut, as she earned a technical knockout victory over Hannah Cifers 2:01 into the second round of their featured strawweight clash at UFC Fight Night 139 in Denver on Saturday night. Barber bloodied her foe with some standing elbows before sealing her victory with a vicious barrage of ground-and-pound.
“I’m so blessed to get my first UFC win on the 25th anniversary show,” Barber said. “She took this fight on short notice and didn’t have to do that. So I’m very thankful. I like throwing elbows on the ground and I like to finish. As long as I have the position, I’ll get the finish.”
Cifers absorbed some heavy shots in the early going, but Barber’s constant pressure ultimately proved to be too much to overcome. The defeat snapped a five-fight winning streak for the Oxford, N.C., native.
“She’s super strong,” Barber said of her opponent. “When we shook hands at the weigh-ins, I was like,’ Wow, she’s really strong.’ She’s definitely the strongest person I’ve ever fought. So that definitely gave me an extra push. I really just wanted to execute the techniques we’ve been working on. I have a lot of work to do in that area. Not everyone can see that, but I see where I need to improve.”
Barber, who earned a UFC deal with a victory on Season 2 of Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series, improved to 6-0 in her burgeoning professional career. In her post-fight interview, Barber wasn’t shy about announcing her presence as a rising star. “The Future” announced that she deserves to fight on big cards going forward, and she already has her next opponent in mind.
“I fight to win. If you want to see a champion, just follow my career,” Barber said. “I just want to fight my next fight and figure out the date for that. I’ve called out Mackenzie Dern a couple times. I’d like to see that fight happen.”
Dern, a decorated jiu-jitsu practitioner, is 7-0 in her professional career, with triumphs over Amanda Bobby Cooper and Ashley Yoder in her first two Octagon appearances.
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
