Maycee Barber: Paige VanZant turned me down, but Roxanne Modafferi way better anyway

Maycee Barber wanted to fight Paige VanZant.

According to Barber, however, the same can’t be said the other way around. After multiple callouts of VanZant, Barber is set to take on Roxanne Modafferi at UFC 246 on Jan. 18.

In an interview with Submission Radio, Barber (8-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) revealed the fight was offered to VanZant (8-4 MMA, 5-3 UFC), who turned it down. Barber claims VanZant wants to fight at 115 pounds and needs more time to prepare.

“They offered it to Paige at 125, (and) she said no,” Barber said. “From what I heard, she said she wanted a fight at 115, but she would need more time. So, as far as I know, it’s offered to her at 125 when she wants to take the fight at 125. And other than that, it’s kind of like, I’m just gonna keep doing what I do with my career, and when she decides to fight, we’ll fight.”

Is Barber disappointed she won’t be facing VanZant? Not really. Barber said VanZant would just be an added “bonus” to her resume of work.

“My career will be successful no matter what, if I beat her up or not,” Barber said. “That was kind of like a bonus – like, beat her up and prove a point. But that’s it.”

Additionally, Barber compared VanZant and Modafferi (23-16 MMA, 2-4 UFC). She said she views Modafferi as a more challenging matchup and criticized VanZant’s evolution (or lack thereof) as a fighter.

“Roxanne is way better of a fighter than Paige VanZant,” Barber said. “And there’s a lot of women out there who are a tougher fight. Paige VanZant just did the marketing well, and that was because the UFC got behind her on that.

“But like I’ve said multiple times, she didn’t hold up her end of the deal and she didn’t continue to progress as a fighter, she just continued to progress on the more marketing and media side of that. So, yeah, there’s a lot more girls that had been working there their butts off a lot more than Paige has.”

Barber’s tune when speaking on VanZant compared to Modafferi was night and day. Barber voiced her respect for one of the most experienced fighters in the history of women’s MMA. She sees the fight as a passing of the guard, of sorts.

“(Roxanne’s) been there so long within the sport,” Barber said. “She has so many fights. She has like 39 fights. And I don’t know if that includes her amateur career or not. She’s been around for a lot of fights and through a lot of the women in MMA. So, it’s really a very historic fight for us. Because we’re taking someone who has pretty much gone and done and seen it all, and then you have someone who’s been working their whole life just to be where they are right now.

“And I’m super young and super new in my career. So you kind of have the new and the old, and I think people are gonna be shocked. They expect, like, oh, you’re fighting her and she’s got so much experience over you. But what they don’t realize is that I’ve been working my whole life, and I’m 21, but that’s like 17 years of work that I’ve put into this.”