Maycee Barber is not “the next Ronda Rousey.”
While I’m sure the comparison would be flattering if you considered how influential “Rowdy” was for women’s mixed martial arts (MMA), thanks to her dominant run and crossover appeal, it also carries a negative connotation.
Rousey is a sore loser who suffered two losses and quit cage fighting to wrestle in WWE.
That’s why Barber prefers to play it safe and establish herself as “the first Maycee Barber” and not the “next” anybody, even Rousey. That’s according to her post-fight conversation with the MMA media last weekend in “Music City.”
“I’m a completely different person from Ronda, and that’s no disrespect to her,” Barber said (via MMA Junkie). “She’s a phenomenal athlete, phenomenal fighter and she had an amazing career, but I want to take my career a little bit different. But if I ever do get a loss – which I’m going to continue to fight to make sure I never get one – but if I ever do, I hope I can come back a little bit differently than she did. But we’ll see. I’m hoping to not take that loss.”
Barber is certainly off to a good start, racking up seven straight wins with six violent finishes. That includes last weekend’s technical knockout victory over J.J. Aldrich at UFC Nashville on ESPN+, her second straight UFC win after graduating Dana White’s “Contender Series” last summer.
The 20 year-old flyweight remains unranked at 125 pounds and did not crack the Top 15 when she was competing at strawweight, but I would reckon that changes fairly soon, perhaps even as early as this week, when the official rankings are released.
Who would you like to see her fight next?