Erin Blanchfield vs Maycee Barber headlines UFC Fight Night 258
UFC Fight Night 258 is coming along nicely as the matchmakers have just added their fourth bout to the lineup, a headliner between a pair of flyweight contenders in no. 3 ranked Erin Blanchfield (13-2) and no. 4 ranked Maycee Barber (14-2).
UFC FN 258 is to go down on May 31, 2025, live from the UFC Apex in Enterprise Nevada.
Both of these girls have had a wealth of hype around them ever since they joined the UFC, and now that each are ranked inside the top five it’s a perfect time for them to fight in a potential title eliminator.
After UFC flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko faces no. 2 ranked Manon Fiorot, the winner of this fight will most likely be next in line to challenge the winner.
Maycee Barber (26) came to the UFC in 2018 with a professional record of 5-0, consisting of a 4-0 run in LFA as well as a win on Dana White’s Contender Series. She’d blow through her first three octagon opponents, defeating Hannah Cifers (TKO), JJ Aldrich (TKO), and Gillian Robertson (TKO), before dropping her next two to Roxanne Modafferi (UD) and future champion Alexa Grasso (UD).
Barber hasn’t lost since however, winning her last six straight over the likes of Miranda Maverick (SD), Montana De La Rosa (UD), former title challenger Jessica Eye (UD), Andrea Lee (SD), Amanda Ribas (TKO), and a second former title challenger in Katlyn Cerminara (UD).
The Maverick and Lee decisions were both quite disputed, but Barber’s shown much evolution over her last two fights in particular, stopping top 10 ranked Ribas and completely handling Cerminara, giving her no space en route to a dominant and lopsided win.
Then there’s Erin Blanchfield (25), a BJJ phenom turned MMA phenom that’s only lost once in eight promotional appearances.
Joining the UFC in 2021 at 6-1 as a pro, only ever losing to current no. 10 ranked Tracey Cortez (SD), she’d also fought in just two promotions prior to coming over, going 4-1 in Invicta FC and 2-0 in CFFC.
Blanchfield went on to win her first six UFC bouts, defeating the likes of Sarah Alpar (UD), Miranda Maverick (UD), JJ Aldrich (guillotine choke), Molly McCann (kimura), former strawweight champion and former flyweight title challenger Jessica Andrade (rear naked choke), and former title challenger Taila Santos (UD).
This was followed up by a defeat to Manon Fiorot (UD) before Blanchfield rebounded with a win in her second straight five round fight against another former strawweight champion in Rose Namajunas (UD).
Alexa Grasso is still ranked at no. 1 in the UFC women’s flyweight division, though considering her last three fights were all against Valentina Shevchenko, going winless over the latter two, it’s unlikely she’ll get a shot over the winner of this fight. Especially if Shevchenko defeats Fiorot.
It’s likely each of these women will fight for the belt in the near future, but who moves closer to a flyweight title shot this year with a win at UFC FN 258?
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