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#2 UFC Flyweight Division: Maycee Barber vs Alexa Grasso

Maycee Barber has long been considered one of the UFC's best prospects/

It’s safe to say that while this is a really well-matched fight, it’s also not really worthy of being a UFC pay-per-view co-main event. However, in a way. it’s nice to see the UFC treating it as a big deal.

Both Barber and Grasso are extremely high-end prospects in one of the UFC’s thinnest divisions. And while it’s hard to see either woman bothering UFC Flyweight champ Valentina Shevchenko, if she were to step away from the division, then one of these two could definitely pick up her mantle.

The fight is an interesting clash of styles, too. Mexico’s Grasso, who is 4-3 in the UFC, is largely a striker by trade. Usually preferring to fight like a technical boxer, Grasso chains her combinations together well, pushes at a torrid pace and is largely aggressive.

Where she’s fallen down in the past has been on the ground, though. All of her UFC losses saw her outworked on the ground, with Tatiana Suarez outright finishing her with a rear-naked choke.

Her submission game is definitely improving – she almost tapped Carla Esparza – but she’s definitely susceptible to takedowns.

Barber, on the other hand, relies almost purely on her physicality and aggression to get by. One of the youngest fighters on the UFC roster, ‘The Future’ is still just 22 years old. A bulldozer of a fighter, Barber came into the UFC as a ground-and-pound machine, and destroyed Hannah Cifers in her debut.

Her second effort – a TKO win over JJ Aldrich – was less impressive. Aldrich largely picked her apart with more technical striking before falling prey to Barber’s sheer power later on. However, in her win over Gillian Robertson, her striking looked much improved, and she quickly won via TKO.

Unfortunately, Barber has not fought in almost a year. She suffered a serious knee injury in her loss to veteran Roxanne Modafferi, where she was thoroughly dominated on the ground. Quite how she’ll look in her first fight back is anyone’s guess.

It’s a tricky fight to call, but I’m leaning towards Barber, assuming the knee injury hasn’t ruined her. Grasso is better technically, but she lacks the raw power of ‘The Future’ and doesn’t have the ground skill of Modafferi.

With that in mind, I feel Barber will probably walk through her punches, take her down and dominate the Mexican on the ground en route to a late TKO win.

The Pick: Barber via a third-round TKO.