Miranda Maverick talks Gillian Robertson bout at UFC 258
Miranda Maverick vs Gillian Robertson goes down at UFC 258 on Saturday, February 13th. This flyweight bout emanates from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The matchup marks the sophomore octagon effort for Miranda Maverick and takes place on the event’s preliminary portion.
Below are several excerpts from my recent conversation with the surging 125-pounder.
Getting her BJJ Belt ranking upgraded recently
“Thank you very much. It was a huge deal. It’s one of those things that just comes with time. But it’s still a huge accomplishment. You put so much work into something that it starts to mean a lot.”
Miranda Maverick’s assessment of her debut UFC performance
“I definitely thought it was memorable and I think I did a good job. But kind of like I said, it wasn’t even about showing my jiu-jitsu off necessarily. But I wanted to show that I was well rounded. I didn’t want people to think I just had this one-dimensional thing and a lot of people who watch, don’t know my history. They don’t even know I’m a grappler. So I wanted to be able to kind of show against the cage, show on the ground, just show that I was more well rounded than what I’ve gotten credit for.”
Miranda Maverick
A tumultuous timeline leading up to the first Octagon foray. Was there a degree of relief as well as I guess euphoria, with the whole debut?
“There is the euphoria just having my dream finally there. But at the same time, there was so much motivation because of the setbacks that happened. I was just so ready to go in there and show what I could do. Make sure that everything that happened in my past, all the people who I’d ever represented, got to kind of show up and show out that day. That everything finally came to fruition, that it had been so long.”
“Even the debut I was supposed to have with the UFC ended up getting kind of ripped out of my hands. Just a couple days before I was supposed to make it there. All I can keep telling myself is that it happened for a reason. I think that reason might have been part of the way that my pro debut ended up going. I had more time to prepare, it was a great matchup, and it was on the biggest card pretty much of 2020. Which was just unbelievable.”
The unique situation of having her boyfriend corner her and if that will happen this time
“Pete will not be there in the corner this time. He was kind of a backup plan at the time. Nobody else was able to make it with a passport and everything. COVID/ military; different things that coaches and things of that sort, couldn’t be there for. My dad didn’t have his passport prepared. But this time I will have two of my coaches there and also my father. He’s not as much as a coach in the corner but he’s definitely there for my sanity.”
UFC
Looking to get that Master’s in May and then most classes are kind of done towards the Ph.D. by then. Is that kind of an accurate idea of the timeline and everything with your studies?
“Yes, I’m hoping by May I will have my thesis done with, and then be working towards the Ph.D. Have my master’s done by then already. And then just working on my dissertation research and one more year of classes, hopefully.”
That goal with the backdrop of also wanting a couple of fights by mid-year and four fights in 2021. I mean, I don’t think free time is a thing in your world.
“I am hoping to get as many fights as I can in 2021 though, honestly. It’ll be a little bit difficult with school scheduling if I have to travel a long ways. But in the summer and late fall, it should be a little bit easier. I’m just excited to get some more fights under my belt and like I said keep moving up.”
Miranda Maverick continuing her work at House of Muay Thai and Norfolk BJJ
“Yes, absolutely. That’s where I’ve been training at full time. Every once in a while I cross-train with different associated gyms and with other females who are in the UFC. Just to help them train or prepare for fights. But overall I would say I’m 98% at the House of Muay Thai, which also has Norfolk BJJ within it.”
I noticed you were helping out Tecia Torres there and her fight camp like mid-November. So, I imagine that has some utility too.
Having the core base of operations, but also being able to cross-train and just get different looks now and again.
“Yeah, absolutely. It’s been good to have different opportunities and make friendships with people. I think people realize that you’re a hard worker and the, I guess commitment to the sport that you bring. They start wanting you to be a part of that too. So I’ve had a lot of fun helping a few girls with their fight camps and also learning new stuff from their coaches as well.”
Miranda Maverick vs Gillian Robertson
Your opponent Gillian Robertson here I mean she’s a pretty established individual in the division…it seems like it has Fight of the Night potential written all over it.
“I hope so. Our skill sets are well matched together. I respect Gillian. I’ve met her before, just seems like a really nice person. And we’d even messaged before this fight, hoping to bring down the roof. Have this be an amazing fight and get Fight of the Night bonus if we can. I think it’ll be an exciting performance. Some striking, some takedowns, some grappling. Who knows.”
Miranda Maverick’s previous callouts
“I’ve called out a couple girls. The whole Katlyn Chookagian, which is kind of pie in the sky right now. But I’m hoping you know like the Rocky movie, she’ll give me a chance. As she gets ready to retire to let this young up and comer make her stake in the world. So I’m hoping I get that fight but there’s also Antonina Shevchenko that I’d be interested in fighting as well. I think those are two good matchups for me. Also, really exciting ones that would not only help me move up the ranks but get a lot of fan attention as well.”
The ever-burgeoning support Miranda Maverick has within MMA
“You know, it’s really exciting to have different sponsors and people supporting me. That would be willing to make videos like that or even do these interviews and things. I think it helps my exposure grow a lot. Also just kind of inspires me to inspire others I guess you’d say.”
UFC 258
“After The Cage” documentary and Miranda Maverick’s involvement in it
“Yeah, I think there’s gonna be a little summary out pretty soon if there’s not already. But basically, it looks at a lot of different retired MMA fighters and looks at their life afterward. But also looks at the come up of women’s MMA within that. Brooke Mayo, Alesha Zappitella, and I were some of the females that he interviewed and is including within the documentary.”
“Then Matt Hughes, Pat Miletich, I believe Dan Severn, and a couple others are the men that he’s going to be including within the film as well. Just talking about kind of how fighting impacts people in their lives that they have outside of the cage.”
Parting thoughts for Miranda Maverick
“If everybody wouldn’t mind, go follow me on Twitter. It’s just @FearTheMAVERICK; pretty easy to find me. Could also just type in my name, I believe. But it did get hacked right before my last UFC fight. I don’t have that many followers on it yet. I did have 15,000 I believe before it got hacked. So if everybody wouldn’t mind, please go follow me, ask other people to follow me.”
“And then my Instagram is also @FearTheMaverick_homt. You can also just type in my name anywhere. You can pretty much find me on every social media platform. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Just keep up and I’ll have fight announcements. Also just updates on my fight camp as we go.”
