LAS VEGAS – Miranda Maverick doesn’t want to hear Tracy Cortez’s excuses.
The pair were originally set to meet inside the octagon at Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 60 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. However, a late lineup shift saw Cortez get bumped up to compete a week earlier against Rose Namajunas in the headliner of UFC on ESPN 59 in Denver.
Maverick (13-5 MMA, 6-3 UFC) kept her spot on the Las Vegas event, and will now face Dione Barbosa.
Cortez lost her bout against Namajunas by a clear unanimous decision, suffering her first loss in the UFC. A late switch can be a tough challenge, especially against a former champion like Namajunas, but Maverick dismisses Cortez’s reasons for her performance.
“Whatever excuses she wants to give,” Maverick told MMA Junkie Radio at SEICon. “To me, you got to be ready for anything. You took a fight for five rounds, you took it in Denver – you’re making all the excuses – the weight cut and everything else. It’s not like it was a five-day notice, it was two-day notice. She should have been ready for a fight the next week. Like you start your weight cut two weeks before.
“It’s not like she was sitting on the couch. I see all these articles like, ‘Oh, she came off the couch and did this.’ I’m like, no, do your research. She was supposed to fight me this weekend. It’s not that big of a change. She’s in the top 10 rankings. Tracy’s never even really fought a ranked opponent and she finally had an opportunity to move up, and she didn’t show up.”
Cortez accepted the opponent change 19 days out after Maycee Barber, the original headliner for Denver opposite Namajunas, could not compete due to medical issues.
Maverick would be up for facing Cortez, despite the loss to Namajunas. In fact, she says her confidence in her abilities to get the job done grew after watching what happened in the UFC on ESPN 59 main event.
“I think it would look about the same if I fought her as it did when Rose fought her,” Maverick said. “I was not impressed, we’ll just say that.”
For now, Maverick has a new challenge in Barboza (7-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC) on her hands, and she expects to finish the fight by submission. From there, it’s all about mixing it up with anyone in the top 15, anytime, anyplace.
“Anyone they put in front of me that’s in the top 15, I’m ready to fight,” Maverick said. “I just don’t see how she still has as high of a ranking as she does, and maybe that will end up going down. Maybe we’ll switch spots after this fight, I don’t know. Like I said, anybody they put in front of me, if it ends up being Tracy, I’m down. I’m ready to go if she wants that fight.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 60.
