Maycee Barber out; Tracy Cortez expected to face Rose Namajunas at UFC Denver

The upcoming UFC Denver card on July 13 will see a significant shift to one of its pivotal matchups.

Maycee Barber has been forced to drop out of her scheduled bout against Rose Namajunas for undisclosed reasons. In her place, Tracy Cortez is expected to now clash with Namajunas in a flyweight bout taking place at the Ball Arena in Denver.

Multiple people with knowledge of the promotion’s plans confirmed the news to MMA Fighting on Tuesday. Barber’s withdrawal was first reported by Alex Behunin on Twitter.

While the situation is an unfortunate turn of events for Barber, it’s Cortez who now benefits after she was already scheduled to face Miranda Maverick at a separate UFC Fight Night card on July 20.

Now she’ll move up one week earlier with a chance to take on a former champion in Namajunas. As for Maverick, she’s expected to stay on the July 20 card with the search ongoing for a new opponent.

The 30-year-old fighter remains undefeated in her UFC campaign with a perfect 6-0 record in the octagon including wins over Jasmine Jasudavicius, Melissa Gatto and Justine Kish. She also holds a split decision win over highly touted flyweight contender Erin Blanchfield before both fighters joined the UFC roster.

Cortez takes a decided step up in competition to face Namajunas in July as the former two-time strawweight champion looks to build on her recent win over Amanda Ribas, which was her second appearance at 125 pounds after falling to Manon Fiorot in her debut.