UFC president Dana White knows a thing or two about stars. He’s seen fighters break from the pack and emerge as big names for the company, and he clearly sees star quality in women’s flyweight prospect Maycee Barber.
Barber (8-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) registered the latest win of her perfect career on Friday with an emphatic first-round TKO of Gillian Robertson at UFC on ESPN 6 in Boston. Speaking to reporters, including MMA Junkie, backstage at the post-fight press conference, White was brimming with positivity about the 21-year-old’s career trajectory.
“She’s a gangster, this girl,” White grinned. “I love everything about this girl. You should see the crazy texts she sends me all the time, including tonight. As soon as the fight was over she started texting me.
“She wants to fight everybody and she wants to do this and: ‘I told you! I told you I was gonna do this!’ I love her attitude, I love how badly she wants to be a world champion, I love how she finishes fights.”
Many believed Barber was set to face the toughest test of her career against Robertson, a gritty rising prospect herself, whose grappling skills had taken her to four stoppage wins from her previous five UFC outings.
But Barber shut down Robertson’s submission game at source as she stuffed her opponent’s takedown attempts, then punished her on the feet with powerful striking.
It resulted in a first-round finish that left White admitting that he is excited to see just how high the ceiling is for Barber’s career.
“She fought a very tough girl tonight, and she stopped her,” White said. “She looked incredible. She’s fun and it’s going to be fun for all of us and the fans to watch her grow over the next couple of years.”
The speed of Barber’s rise and the dominant nature of her victories – seven of her eight career wins have come via stoppage, including all three of her UFC appearances – has led some to offer comparisons with another certain female fighter who burst onto the scene in a blaze of finishes.
“I don’t know if I’d call her Ronda Rousey, but if you look at a young Ronda Rousey, she was arm-barring everybody,” White said. “This girl put on a striking clinic tonight. I think Maycee is Maycee. She’s somebody completely different. But I love her intensity, I love her attitude I love that she wants to be a world champion before everybody else was. It’s fun.
“She’s fun to watch, she’s fun to listen to. I posted an interview with her today and if you sit and listen to the whole interview, she speaks really well, she’s very smart and, yeah, I can’t say enough good things about her. She’s fun.”
Excited for 'The Future': Dana White says 'incredible' Maycee Barber is set for stardom