Former flyweight prospect Miranda Maverick returns to face Sabina Mazo in our fourth fight of the night. It’s a step down in pace but still interesting to see which of these women can break their respective losing streaks.
Maverick is on a 2 fight skid to Maycee Barber and Erin Blanchfield, who are both very talented prospects. Mazo is also on a 2 fight losing streak, to Alexis Davis and Mariya Agapova. That loss to Agapova hasn’t aged well, but Alexis Davis is one of the most experienced female fighters in the UFC.
How could this fight play out?
Sabina Mazo vs Miranda Maverick Prediction
Feel free to check out my other predictions here
There’s a massive discrepancy in height in this matchup. Mazo is the taller fighter by 4 inches. And Maverick is already an undersized fighter for her weight class, this was exposed in her last fight with Blanchfield. Maverick is always going to struggle against taller fighters, since she doesn’t have the power to establish herself on the feet. Because of this height and reach difference, Mazo should be finding it easy to bully Maverick on the feet. Mazo sets a heavy pace, and has some good head kicks that should spell all sorts of trouble for Maverick.
So we’ve established that Mazo should have the advantage on the feet, but how does the grappling play out? Mazo is no slouch on the ground, but Maverick’s usual resort is to grind out decisions with wrestling. She’s aggressive on the feet, and it gets her opponents to react, where she’ll tackle the hips and attack them on the fence. Maverick might struggle with this game plan this time around as Mazo is so much longer and much more capable of defending. If she can take it to the ground, she may be able to gather control time, but she’ll need to be aware of submissions coming from Mazo’s wiry frame.
Sabina Mazo should have all the tools needed to defeat Miranda Maverick by unanimous decision. She has the range and pressure to punish Maverick on the feet. She also has the length to sprawl, wall walk, and defend takedowns coming from Maverick. Because of these factors, I predict Mazo by UD.
My pick – Sabina Mazo by UD
Sabina Mazo vs Miranda Maverick Betting Suggestion
Bet365 has Mazo as a sizeable underdog, at 5/2. Putting £10 on Mazo will win you £35. Mazo is a live underdog here so the odds should be very tempting.
Thank you for reading. Please feel free to drop a comment below, or sign up to my newsletter for alerts on new posts!
Contact Mathew via Twitter or through [email protected]