If Dana White is high on yours skills a couple of losses won’t do much in terms of having the biggest mixed martial arts (MMA) promoter turn his back on you. Which is good news for Maycee Barber, who suffered the second straight loss of her career last Saturday night (Feb. 13, 2021) at the hands of Alexa Grasso at UFC 258.
Coming out of the “Contender Series,” Barber immediately caught White’s eye in 2018, and starting off her Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) career with three straight technical knockout (TKO) wins only fueled the hype train further.
After coming up short against Roxanne Modafferi and now Grasso, White isn’t losing faith in Barber’s future in the fight game.
“She’s a savage. She’s one of the most ambitious and toughest young women that I’ve ever met. So I expect nothing but big things from her. She’s a baby still. She’s young. She’s got nothing but time,” said White during the UFC 258 post-fight presser (via MMA Fighting).
“I know she put this unbelievable pressure on herself to be a champion before Jon Jones, and it’s good to set goals for yourself,” White said. “But she’s a baby, she’s got nothing but time, and she’s only going to get better.”
Indeed, Barber predicted that she’d beat Jon Jones’ record of becoming the youngest UFC champion ever. “Bones” accomplished that feat when he was 23 years old. Barber, who is just 22 years old and has been fighting inside the Octagon since 2018, could have broken the mark — and technically still can — but back-to-back losses have put a damper on those plans.
For now, she will go back to the drawing board and regroup in hopes of getting back on the winning track because three straight losses won’t look good on her resume, regardless if she has the backing of White.
If you are wondering if Dana totally forgot about the person who outclassed Barber, he didn’t, saying that Grasso looked good against a “savage” and seems to have turned a corner now that she is comfortable fighting in the Flyweight division.