Maycee Barber returns to the octagon at UFC 299, draws Katlyn Chookagian in flyweight clash
UFC 299 is shaping up to be an epic night of fights with top contender bouts across the lineup, one of which coming in the flyweight division between no. 4 ranked Katlyn Chookagian and no. 7 ranked Maycee Barber.
UFC 299 is to go down on March 9, 2024, live from the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida.
Katlyn Chookagian has been atop the UFC women’s flyweight division since her arrival in 2016, coming over as the CFFC flyweight & bantamweight champion. Following victory over Lauren Murphy (UD) in her promotional debut she’d drop a split decision to current Bellator flyweight champion Liz Carmouche later that year.
Next Chookagian would defeat no. 5 ranked Irene Aldana (UD) before securing victories in her next two bouts as well, extending her win streak to three-straight. She’d then drop another split decision defeat, this one to Jessica Eye, before defeating both Joanne Calderwood (UD) and Jennifer Maia (UD).
This led up to her title fight with former champion Valentina Shevchenko, who finished her (TKO) in round three before Chookagian would take revenge on Shevchenko’s sister, Antonina, losing to Valentina in February of 2020 and defeating Antonina (UD) in May of 2020.
Chookagian was then stopped by former strawweight champion Jessica Andrade (KO), going on a four-fight win streak following with victories over Cynthia Calvillo (UD), Viviane Araujo (UD), Jennifer Maia (UD) in their rematch, and then Amanda Ribas (UD).
The no. 4 ranked contender does however come into this bout off a defeat to no. 3 ranked Manon Fiorot (UD), who defeated her last October.
That’s four former title challengers she has wins over, three former or current champions she lost to, and one no. 1 contender though she’s ranked at no. 3 (Fiorot).
Maycee Barber on the other hand came to the UFC in 2018, rattling off three-straight victories over the likes of Hannah Cifers (TKO), JJ Aldrich (TKO), and Gillian Robertson (TKO), improving her to 8-0 as a professional before losing for the first and second times to the far more experienced Roxanne Modafferi (UD), and then current UFC flyweight champion Alexa Grasso (UD).
Barber has since won five-straight against Miranda Maverick (SD), Montana De La Rosa (UD), Jessica Eye (UD), Andrea Lee (SD), and Amanda Ribas (TKO). Two of those victories, both split decisions, were quite controversial. However, she returned to her former self in her most recent bout with Ribas, looking incredible from start to finish en route to the second-round stoppage.
Who comes out on top in this flyweight bout going down at UFC 299?
The full fight card lineup is as follows:
Sean O’Malley (17-1) vs Marlon Vera (21-8-1)
Katlyn Chookagian (18-5) vs Maycee Barber (13-2)
Curtis Blaydes (17-4) vs Jailton Almeida (20-2)
Mateusz Gamrot (23-2) vs Rafael dos Anjos (32-15)
Pedro Munhoz (20-8) vs Kyler Phillips (11-2)
Lauren Murphy (16-6) vs Karine Silva (17-4)
CJ Vergara (12-4-1) vs Assu Almabayev (18-2)
Michael Page (21-2) vs Kevin Holland (25-10)
Petr Yan (16-5) vs Song Yadong (21-7-1)
Ian Garry (13-0) vs Geoff Neal (15-5)
Gilbert Burns (22-6) vs Jack Della Maddalena (16-2)
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