Maycee Barber wants to be Paige VanZant's last fight on her UFC contract and thinks she was given all her opportunities because of the UFC.
Maycee Barber wants Paige VanZant next before VanZant decides what’s next for her future.
Even though she’s currently booked to face Gillian Robertson at UFC on ESPN 6 in Boston, Barber is looking ahead. She continues to go back and forth on social media with VanZant, who recently said she’d like to fight out her contract, then hope the UFC re-signs her at a rate she thinks she’s worth.
With one fight remaining on VanZant’s UFC contract, Barber (7-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) wants the other name on it to be hers, just in case VanZant (8-4 MMA, 5-3 UFC) winds up going elsewhere afterward.
“Now she makes more money outside than she does in fighting because she’s not fighting,” Barber said in an interview with The Score. “As far as her last fight on her contract, that’s my fight. If she wants to fight in Bellator, if she wants to move out, she can fight me on her last fight on her contract, or she can never fight again, and that’s up to her.”
VanZant recently said she didn’t want to reward Barber with a fight, and feels disrespected by some of Barber’s comments. But Barber says if VanZant feels disrespected, she should want to settle it by fighting her.
“She was kind of saying that there’s no story, but at the same time she made it a story,” Barber said. “I guess word for word, she said she didn’t want to reward me with a fight because I’m disrespectful. In my opinion, if someone disrespects me, and I don’t really like them, I kind of want to beat them up. However, she can’t beat me up, so her only excuse to not fight me is, ‘Oh, well, she’s disrespectful. I don’t want to fight her and reward her with a fight with me.’ So that’s her only excuse now that she has to not fight me.”
“12 Gauge” has had a lot of success outside the octagon with appearances on “Dancing With the Stars” and “Chopped,” as well as an appearance in Sports Illustrated’s annual Swimsuit Issue earlier this year. According to VanZant, she makes more money from endorsements and activities outside the cage than in it.
But Barber thinks all those opportunities were created thanks to the UFC, and that VanZant wouldn’t be here without them.
“I believe that, because that’s how she got that was because of the UFC,” Barber said. “She would not be anywhere that she is right now without the UFC and what she’s done, and what they’ve given her, so she didn’t hold up her end of the bargain. When the UFC signed her, I think they saw someone who had very good marketability, and they thought could fight, and she’s not holding up her end of the deal. She’s not fighting. She’s not fighting anybody and she’s trying to duck all these girls – and she’s ducking me.”
For now, Barber will have to focus her attention on Oct. 18 when she takes on Robertson. VanZant currently is sidelined with an arm injury. But should Barber come out unscathed from her fight, she could end up crossing paths with VanZant – if VanZant has a change of heart.
