Maycee Barber promises Dana White she’ll be ‘as big, if not bigger than Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey’

Undefeated strawweight prospect Maycee Barber is one of the most exciting young fighters on the UFC roster at present. And just like her nickname suggests “The Future” is expecting to accomplish massive things in the coming years. In fact, she plans to realize the same sport-transcending superstardom as Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey — and apparently told UFC President Dana White just that.

“I told him that I was gonna be as big, if not bigger than Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey and all of the stars he has,” The 20-year-old told MMA Fighting. “And I am one of his next big stars. There aren’t very many right now, especially females. And I fit that perfectly. Just in terms of the person I want to portray in terms of the sport, I feel like I could fill that.”

If Maycee Barber does achieve this level of stardom, she’ll have to get used to a frantic media schedule and a life in the public eye. While some fighters aren’t cut-out for this kind of exposure, she feels more than ready for it.

“I hear a lot of people complaining about how much they hate interviews or how much they dread taking pictures,” Barber said. “But I mean, that’s the sport we chose. That’s what comes with it. And if you want to be successful in something, you have to be all in. You’ve gotta just learn to enjoy life just the way it is. And enjoy every little bit of it.

“Maybe you don’t want to do an interview all the time, but that’s what people want to see. They don’t want to see someone come in and have no personality and have no story behind them. They want to see a person with a story and someone they can relate to. And then they want to see them fight. I feel like building all of that and giving someone a person to relate with is what is necessary. And I’m more than happy to do that. It’s gonna benefit me, it’s gonna benefit the promotion, it’s gonna benefit everyone who is watching. It’s just all around what needs to happen and what’s good for my career.”

Maycee Barber burst into the limelight on Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series, where she defeated Jamie Colleen with a volley of third-round strikes. In her UFC debut, she dispatched of Hannah Cifers in similar fashion, winning by second-round TKO. Her next fight goes down at UFC Nashville on March 23, when she’s set to battle JJ Aldrich.

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 2/24/2019.