Preview: UFC 260 ‘Miocic vs. Ngannou’

Women’s Flyweight

NR | Miranda Maverick (8-2, 1-0 UFC) vs. #15 | Gillian Robertson (9-5, 6-3 UFC)

ODDS: Maverick (-160), Robertson (+140)

Robertson has certainly overachieved thus far in her UFC run, but she could use a win to assuage some concerns about her ceiling. Robertson did not come into her season of “The Ultimate Fighter” with much hype and was quickly eliminated from that tournament by Barb Honchak, but “The Savage” has since been able to make a name for herself as a talented and vicious submission artist. While Robertson has clearly put in the work to improve everywhere over the course of the last few years, there are still some obvious weaknesses. Her striking is not particularly effective, and there have been some clear struggles when Robertson faces better athletes who can bully her: Maycee Barber essentially ran her over, and her last fight saw her get controlled by Taila Santos without much issue. That makes for a fascinating dynamic here against a rising prospect. Maverick has gotten some rightful hype due to her talent and youth, but she is still a raw and fairly limited prospect who needs some time to develop. At the moment, Maverick’s effectiveness is essentially confined to her powerful wrestling and some solid grappling, and that has allowed her to score some impressive wins given her relative experience. On paper, a well-established fighter like Robertson seems like a huge step up for Maverick, but the stylistic matchup actually favors the younger prospect. While Maverick is still something of a basic striker who throws one shot at a time, she is a much harder hitter than Robertson, who does not figure to challenge her much in that phase of the game. Maverick’s wrestling-heavy approach figures to charge right into her opponent’s submission game, but she is enough of an athlete and a talented enough grappler herself that she should be able to keep Robertson on her back—or even work for some submissions of her own. Robertson is savvy enough on the mat that it will be hard to count her entirely out at any point in the fight, but the pick is for Maverick to grind out a decision victory.

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