Preview: UFC Fight Night 203 Prelims

Women's Flyweights

NR | Sabina Mazo (9-3) vs. NR | Miranda Maverick (9-4)
Odds: Maverick (-335), Mazo (+260)

This is a sneakily crucial fight, as these 24-year old prospects find themselves in must-win situations much sooner than anyone would've expected. Miranda Maverick came to the UFC in late 2020 with a rightful amount of hype; if nothing else, Maverick figured to be able to lean on her powerful wrestling game as she figured everything else out. Her UFC debut, a striking-heavy win over Liana Jojua, only raised her stock further, and a subsequent win over Gillian Robertson seemingly had Maverick entrenched as one of the flyweight division's top prospects. Then came her controversial loss to Maycee Barber; Maverick probably should've taken the decision, but faced with a similarly talented athlete, Maverick seemed technical to a fault, allowing Barber to take the initiative and win on the scorecards based on optics. Those problems further came home to roost in Maverick's last fight, a December loss to Erin Blanchfield; another one of the young guns of the division, Blanchfield also led the dance and was able to implement her own wrestling, exploiting that for all of Maverick's offensive power, she's had some surprising difficulty when opponents look to take her to the mat. In the long term, Maverick still has a lot of the right ideas and should be fine, but it'd be nice to see everything she's worked on clicked sooner rather than later; maybe that happens here, as she steps in on late notice to take on Sabina Mazo. Mazo came to the UFC with much the opposite style - compared to the short and powerful Maverick, Mazo is a long and lanky fighter who spent most of her regional career keeping her opponents at range, sprinkling in a few highlight-reel knockouts. At the UFC level, the "Colombian Queen" has essentially had to learn on the job against opponents who are much less easily scared off and controlled. After a debut loss to Maryna Moroz in which Mazo still had some moments, Mazo showed a low in putting together a three-fight winning streak; Mazo still struggled in forcing opponents into her type of fight, but she was able to come out the victor in some grimy wars, displaying her toughness and some solid wrestling ability. But that success dried up in 2021; Alexis Davis was exactly the type of veteran grinder to turn things around on Mazo and score a win, while Mariya Agapova was a much better athlete who could match Mazo's range and also beat her to the punch. Both women seem to be defined by their flaws at the moment, and Mazo's figure to hurt her more here; even with Maverick being overly patient, this figures to be the type of close-range fight where she can establish her wrestling without much worry that Mazo is going to take her down. Even if Mazo can find some success on the feet, that's likely to spark a bit of a brawl and force Maverick to chase takedowns, which has been a winning formula for her - and a losing formula for Mazo - thus far. The hope is that both women can improve their stock in a messy fight, but the pick is Maverick via decision.

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