Maycee Barber grinds out unanimous decision victory against Montana De La Rosa
Former UFC women’s strawweight champion Jessica Andrade will headline tonight’s UFC Vegas 52 fight card from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. Her opponent, none other than rising star Amanda Lemos. In a featured bout on the main fight card, Maycee Barber (8-2) and Montana De La Rosa (12-6-1) battle for the hope of claiming a top ten position. Barber is currently ranked No. 14 in the flyweight division while the underdog, De La Rosa is unranked.
A win for Maycee Barber will improve her to 9-2 and a potential match against No. 13 Casey O’Neill (9-0). Aside from O’Neill, Jessica Eye, Cynthia Calvillo, ad Joanne Wood are all coming off losses. A fight against No. 9 Andrea Lee (13-5) could also be a potential matchup. A win for Montana De La Rosa 12-7-1 would be huge for her career. A win would improve her to 13 victories and a probable matchup against No. 15 Erin Blanchfield (8-1).
Barber last fought in June of 2021 and De La Rosa hasn’t fought since July 2021. Which fighter will look sharper in their return to the cage. Barber is the favorite on paper and according to Vegas.
Below is the round-by-round action.
Round 1:
Barber comes out in orthodox and quickly changed to southpaw. Both fighters feel each other out. Barber threw some strikes and then changed levels and locked her arms around the body of De La Rosa against the fence. They exchange strikes from the clinch until Barber pulled De La Rosa on top of her and scrambled back up to her feet where they get back into the clinch against the cage wall. Barber with a body lock, lands knees to the body. De La Rosa broke the grip abs got her over-under grip landing shots of her own. The grip abs clinch is now back to Barber’s control and she lands more knees. Barber lands a big elbow and almost gets taken down by Baber and de La Rosa uses a Whizzer to stay up. Still in the clinch, Barber threw big shots that probably going to win her the round against the cage as they both threw numerous strikes while clinching against the cage.
My MMA News’ Unofficial Score:
My MMA News 10-9 Barber
Round 2:
They exchange strikes in the middle of the cage and end up back in a clinch against the cage. Now Montana De La Rosa pressuring Barber against the cage in the clinch. De La Rosa used a head and arm clinch to drag her to the canvas. Barber gets away from the cage abs Montana jumps on her back but is too high abs to the side, but manages to bring Barber to the canvas. De La Rosa slides to the right of Barber’s back, Barber finally escapes and gets on top of De La Rosa with a reversal. Montana immediately attacks Barber’s arm from the bottom, but Maycee escapes any trouble she was in and battles for a better position while on top. Barber gets separation and lands a few decent shots before going for a big shot, which allowed Montana to scramble back on top to finish the round.
My MMA News 10 – 9 De La Rosa
Round 3:
Montana lands two and Barber answers with two. They exchange a couple more strikes before they end up in the clinch again against the cage. Barber fired off several strikes while in the clinch. Barber keeping strong pressure on De La Rosa and is landing big shots to the face of Montana. Barber lands a big elbow. Barber is now back to pressuring Montana against the cage in the clinch. De La Rosa reverses the position at the 2-minute mark. Pressuring Barber and Barber is able to answer with a knee to Montana’s body. Barber trying to take the back of De La Rosa. Barber lands a big knee to the face of Montana. Barber gets a lift to takedown. Now they are back up on their feet as these women are going back and forth as the horn sounds. Barber looked strong in round 3 and will most likely give her rounds 1 and 3 on the judges’ scorecards.
My MMA News 10-9 Barber
Official Decision – Maycee Barber def. Montana De La Rosa via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).
