UFC Fight Night Prediction: Erin Blanchfield vs. Maycee Barber

After almost two weeks without an event, the UFC is back with an Apex card headlined by a Women’s Flyweight bout between Erin Blanchfield and Maycee Barber. This event is meant to kick off a five-week-long run of Saturday events, so things are looking up for all of us MMA fans.

As far as this event goes, the main fight should be a title eliminator fight, especially if the two perform emphatically as they are expected. Both Blanchfield and Barber are in fine form and have shown that they know how to bounce back after defeats. A stoppage win for any of the two girls will launch them right into title fight contention, where it doesn’t get tougher than dealing with Valentina Shevchenko.

But, until then, there’s a whole lot of ifs, so it’s best to take one thing at a time and break down the Blanchfield vs. Barber fight first.

Erin Blanchfield Record (13-2)

Immediately after joining the UFC, Erin Blanchfield went on a 6-fight win streak. It even included three stoppage victories where Blanchfield submitted the likes of J.J. Aldrich, Molly McCann, and most importantly, former champion Jessica Andrade. She then went on to defeat former title contender Taila Santos by decision and was only then stopped by Manon Fiorot.

Blanchfield truly had an impressive stint in her opening fights, displaying a fight style that only a few could match. Cold Blooded is one of the few women who has a fan-friendly style as she is more than capable of ending fights. Unfortunately, her ascent to the top was hampered by that loss to Fiorot.

If she had won, it would have probably been her facing Shevchenko instead of Manon at the recent UFC 315 event. Instead, she was given a fight against Rose Namajunas, where she showed that she deserves to challenge for the title. A gutsy win against Namajunas was more than enough to convince the UFC brass to give her another main fight event. If she can win emphatically against Barber, a title shot is not far from reach. 

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Maycee Barber Record (14-2)

Maycee Barber, amply nicknamed the Future, was for a time really viewed as the future of women’s MMA. Unfortunately for her, her plans were hampered by two back-to-back losses. First, Roxanne Modafferi surprised both Maycee and everyone by defeating her via a unanimous decision. Next came future champion Alexa Grasso, who outperformed Barber on her run towards her title reign.

Things looked grim for Barber at one point as her future potentially looked not as cracked up as everyone predicted. Then came a six-fight win streak that Barber is still riding. Her luck was turned after she defeated Miranda Maverick via split decision, and she never looked back from there.

Her most impressive win came two fights ago when she recorded her fourth KO/TKO stoppage win in the UFC against Amanda Ribas. After which she easily defeated Katlyn Cerminara at UFC 299. Unfortunately, that was the last time we saw Maycee in action. She is still ranked 5th in the Women’s Flyweight division, but her inactivity could hurt her title hopes.

She has to dig deep to both extend her win streak and keep her title hopes alive. Blanchfield is a dangerous opponent, perhaps the most dangerous one Barber has faced. So she has to keep her cool and enter this fight as level-headed as possible.

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Erin Blanchfield vs. Maycee Barber Prediction

While this is a number 4 vs. number 5 matchup in the Women’s Flyweight division, the outcome of this fight is not as convoluted as you think. Erin is a seasoned grappler and is very strong off the cage, while on the other hand, Maycee does have excellent standup and punching power, but has very bad takedown defence.

Erin’s plan should be simple – Try to get an early takedown on Barber and smother her on the ground. This is what Cold Blooded was able to do to most of her opponents. The only problem for her is that she tends to go the distance if she can’t implement her game with an early takedown. 

Barber has to sprawl and brawle, as simple as that. The only method for victory for her is to get ahead of Blanchfield’s takedown attempts and try to keep the fight on the feet so she can bang with her. Maycee also has excellent cardio, which Erin should match.

As far as I see things going down here is Blanchfied taking a UD win. If she gets lucky and an opportunity opens up for her, she could win by submission. Both of them are young and relentless, but I see Barber going down and ending her win streak in this one.

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