BOSTON – Maycee Barber turned heads Friday night when she brutalized Gillian Robertson with a standing TKO at UFC on ESPN 6.
It took Barber (8-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) less than three minutes to finish off Canadian submission specialist Robertson (7-4 MMA, 4-2 UFC) with a flurry of punches. Despite knocking off the first ranked opponent of her UFC tenure, Barber doesn’t have her sights set on a top 10 opponent for her post-fight callout.
In fact, Barber decided to reach outside the rankings and called out Paige VanZant when she spoke to Jon Anik on the microphone post-fight. Backstage at the event, Barber was asked if she thinks VanZant (8-4 MMA, 5-3 UFC) will accept a fight against her. “The Future” isn’t convinced.
“I doubt it,” Barber said. “But if she does, I’ll be here.”
After Barber made the callout inside the cage, her Roufusport teammate Ben Askren shared his opinion in classic Askren fashion. Barber echoed his sentiments.
“I will absolutely ruin her Instagram career,” Barber said. “These elbows hit hard and they cut you up.”
Although she has her eyes set on “12 Gauge,” Barber doesn’t have a specific card in mind for her UFC return. If a fight against VanZant doesn’t materialize, Barber said there are options.
“If Paige turns down that fight, I’m going to assume I’m 9-0,” Barber said. “We’ve talked about a couple different things. I’ve had a couple of different conversations. There’s been talk about Antonina Shevchenko. Obviously, any of the girls in the division – I don’t really care.
“It’s whoever (UFC president) Dana (White) and my team decide on. We’ve talked about a couple of different names, but we’ll see.”
Whether it be against VanZant, Shevchenko or someone else, Barber said she thinks she should fight in a main event or co-headliner next. Whomever she faces, Barber promises she’ll come out looking to end the fight as soon as possible.
“I believe I belong at the top,” Barber said. “I’m someone people want to watch fight and I’m an exciting fighter. I can guarantee when I come out, I’m going to come out swinging and I’m going to come out looking for a finish.”
UFC on ESPN 6 took place Friday at TD Garden in Boston. The card aired on ESPN2.
