The UFC has finalized a fun women’s flyweight matchup pairing two top ten contenders for a showdown in June. Yesterday, Gleidson Venga was the first to report that at an upcoming event, Amanda Ribas (11-3) will be taking on “The Future” Maycee Barber (12-2).
The matchup will take place at UFC Jacksonville which goes down on June 24. To be completely honest with you, I’m a little surprised by the booking for Ribas. Amanda Ribas fought top contender Katlyn Chookagian to a close split decision and then defeated Viviane Araujo.
Araujo was one fight removed from fighting the now champion Alexa Grasso. After the big win over Araujo, I expected a big step up for Ribas, instead, the UFC has her fighting a contender that is ranked below her current spot. This is doing more of a favor to Barber than it is to Ribas.
UFC’s Future?
Maycee Barber had aspirations to be the youngest UFC champion in history after earning a contract on Dana White’s Contender Series. However, injuries and a couple of losses have derailed those plans. That said, since the summer of 2021, she’s been perfect.
Barber has currently won four fights in a row and she looks like she’s ready for her next step up in competition. The last woman to defeat her inside the octagon is the current champion Alexa Grasso. That’s a fight that Barber says she wants back.
I think this is the type of fight where the winner is guaranteed to get a top five opponent next. Personally, I thought Ribas was already in that spot, but the UFC wants her to get a second straight win and she’ll have that opportunity in June.