The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Mais Barber and Amanda Ribas, the women’s flyweights, will be casting this weekend (Saturday, June 24, 2023) at UFC Jacksonville inside the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida.
Barber’s plans to become the youngest UFC champion were unsuccessful, in part due to a severe knee injury that sidelined her for nearly a year. Fortunately, the 25-year-old champ still has plenty of time to climb the ladder, and her current four-fight winning streak has listed her well into 15th. , but a big win over Viviane Araujo last time catapulted her into the Top 10. Now that she’s more established at Flyweight, Ribas can start looking to build her case for a title early on.
Let’s take a closer look at the keys to victory for each woman:
Maisie Barber
register: 12-2
Major wins: Andrea Lee (UFC San Antonio), Jessica Eye (UFC 276), Gillian Robertson (UFC on ESPN 6), JJ Aldrich (UFC Fight Night 148)
Major losses: Alexa Grasso (UFC 258), Roxeanne Modafferi (UFC 246)
Keys to victory: Barber’s technical has shown significant growth in her last few fights. Since her competitive loss to Grasso, Barber has doubled down on her kickboxing improvement, becoming a better range striker to accompany her powerful game.
Like her match against Montana de la Rosa, this is clearly an extended fight and brawl for Barber. Ribas is very flashy on the canvas and, historically, Barber has had some problems down the line. It’s clear where every woman will want this fight to be, and anyone who is able to dictate where the fight goes will surely win.
I’d like to see Barber put Ribas on her back foot here. It’s hard to wrestle while moving backwards, and Ribas doesn’t have the best athletic shot anyway. If Barber can keep her level low and apply constant pressure, that should go a long way in helping her avoid takedown.
In addition, Barber has to punish attempts to close the distance. Ribas loves to wrestle from the middle, with Barber being totally bad with elbows and knees. Any time he tries a Brazilian, Barber must explain to her why it’s a bad idea with something unpleasant.
Amanda Ribas
register: 12-3
Major wins: Mackenzie Dern (UFC Fight Night 161), Viviane Araujo (UFC 284), Virna Jandiroba (UFC 267), Paige VanZant (UFC 251), Randa Markos (UFC Fight Night 170)
Major losses: Kaitlin Chokagean (UFC Vegas 54), Marina Rodriguez (UFC 257), Poliana Viana (Jungle Fight 83)
Keys to victory: Ribas is a black belt in both judo and jiu-jitsu. On her feet, she looks like a glass cannonball, as she has some powerful surprises in her punches but also a truly formidable defense that gets her into trouble fairly often.
Given that Barber can put together combinations and hit them hard, the pressure is on Ribas to nail her to the canvas. Historically, Barber hasn’t been the easiest to pull off, with her physicality being a significant factor. However, she has a habit of running forward while throwing, which has left her unbalanced to respond to takedowns below the waist and double leg flights.
Last time around, Andrea Lee managed to score several takedowns against Barber but failed to do much with them. Ribas has the ground experience to take advantage of these same situations by hitting big shots and threatening orders, so if she can land her takedowns, Ribas should still be able to dominate.
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A Top 10 position is at stake, as well as a chance to break into the headline mix.
The victory here would be huge for Barber, her fifth in a row and potentially the biggest of her career. In general, the women’s flyweight has warmed up quite a bit in the past couple of years, but winning streaks of that length are still not uncommon. She already has a history with the champ, so another big win should start getting her in the title shot talks.
As for Ribas, she is a famous fighter who has been in the title picture before at 115 lbs. A second win of kind in a row is enough to move her up the ladder significantly and put her away from the chance of winning gold or two more wins.
At UFC Jacksonville, Maycee Barber and Amanda Ribas will clash in the co-main event. Which woman would raise her hand?
Remember that MMAmania.com It will provide comprehensive, blow-by-blow live coverage of the entire UFC Jacksonville fight card herestarting with ESPN /ESPN+ “Prelims” matches, which are set to start at 11:30 a.m. ET, then the remaining main card balance on ABC (also on ESPN+) 3 p.m. ET.
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