Barber Calls For Rematch with Alexa Grasso

MAYCEE BARBER WITH THE HUGE SEQUENCE TO GET THE TKO IN ROUND 2 😳 #UFCJacksonville pic.twitter.com/mlHtAPK5bH

— Spinnin Backfist (@SpinninBackfist) June 24, 2023

Barber (13-2 MMA, 8-2 UFC) defeated Amanda Ribas (11-4 MMA, 6-3 UFC) via. second-round TKO in the Co-Main Event of UFC on ABC 5. The fight was an absolute back-and-forth war, but Barber put a stamp on the bout with a beautiful head kick and followed it up with a perfect right hand and a barrage of punches to finish Ribas in the second round. It was Barber’s sixth KO/TKO finish of her career and quite possibly her best of them, the finish also was Barber’s first since October 2019. Barber is now riding a five-fight win streak in just under two years" time while Ribas fell to 2-3 in her last five fights.

Barber during the Post-Fight Press Conference spoke on what she is aiming for following her huge win at UFC Jacksonville. Barber responded, "I’ve been saying it time and time again, you know, whether Alexa [Grasso] wins against Valentina [Shevchenko] or not, I do want that rematch. So we’ll see, you know, that would be ideal but we’ll see. I’m going to go back and talk to Hunter [Campbell], Mick [Maynard], and the team and figure it out." Barber was then asked for certification that even if Grasso did lose to Shevchenko, would Barber still want the rematch with Grasso, and Barber answered simply, "Yes." Grasso defeated Barber via. Unanimous Decision at UFC 258 in February 2021.

Barber was later asked what made sense next, was it just waiting for the result of Grasso vs. Shevchenko 2? Barber replied, "Yes and no, probably, figuring it out. I honestly have to talk to everybody but I mean that’s what I wanted was Alexa in a rematch." When asked who she thought would win in the rematch for the Flyweight gold, Barber said, "It’s a toss-up. I mean Alexa is an incredible fighter, Valentina was a dominant champion for so long for a reason so it’s honestly something where like it’s hard to give a prediction because anything can happen."

Grasso’s first defense of her Flyweight title will be against the former champ- Valentina Shevchenko. The title fight rematch will headline a UFC Fight Night event at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on September 16th, also currently announced for the card is Chris Curtis vs. Anthony Hernandez and Lupita Godinez vs. Sam Hughes.

Grasso (16-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC) ended Shevchenko’s (23-4 MMA, 12-3 UFC) dominant run as champ at UFC 285 in March, earlier this year by shocking the world and winning the contest via. fourth-round submission. The loss to Grasso was Shevchenko’s first loss since September 2017, ending her nine-fight win streak and title run. Shevchenko consecutively defended the title seven times following her win of the vacant title at UFC 231 by defeating Joanna Jedrzejczyk. Shevchenko’s last loss was in a Bantamweight title fight against Amanda Nunes at UFC 215, Nunes defeated Shevchenko via. Split Decision.