Maycee Barber believes she’d beat Valentina Shevchenko and ‘dominate’ Weili Zhang right now

Maycee Barber will return to the Octagon at UFC Boston on Friday looking to stay undefeated. She is currently 7-0 and just 21-years-old and has been vocal about breaking Jon Jones’ record of being the UFC’s youngest champion.

On Friday, she can take another step forward if she beats Gillian Robertson. Although she is not ranked in the top-10 at flyweight, the 21-year-old believes she would beat current division titleholder, Valentina Shevchenko, right now.

“I’m not trying to rush anything,” Barber said at UFC Boston’s media day. “Technically, I believe if I was offered the fight with Valentina tomorrow I’d go in there and I truly believe I could win that fight and I could do everything to go out there and to win that fight. And, I believe it would be a fight and I believe that I would win that title. But, why do it right now? Why not take the next couple years and not just go out there and fight her, but go out there and dominate her.”

There is no question Maycee Barber is confident in herself. Although she believes she would beat Shevchenko, she wants to dominate her in a year or two. But, one champion she believes she would dominate right now is Weili Zhang.

“That’s the one I believe I could take right now I could go in and just dominate that fight,” Barber said. “Valentina could be back-and-forth and I believe I could take that title still, but I would rather have it be a beatdown than a back-and-forth brawl.”

Maycee Barber fought at strawweight when she entered the UFC and has said she is open to going back there as the weight cut is not hard. So, a fight with Weili Zhang could very well happen fairly soon given her current trajectory.

Do you agree with Maycee Barber that she would beat Valentina Shevchenko and dominate Weili Zhang right now? Sound off in the comment section, PENN Nation!

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 10/16/2019.