The UFC has added two fights to UFC 335 on December 12 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Maycee Barber returns to the Octagon against Carli Judice at women’s flyweight, nine months after a brutal stoppage loss to Alexa Grasso, while an undefeated prospect makes his light heavyweight debut on the same card.
Maycee Barber looks to bounce back
Maycee Barber, 28, carries a 15-3 professional record and has not fought since March, when Alexa Grasso stopped her at UFC Seattle. Grasso dropped Barber with a fast combination, then finished her with a rear-naked choke that left Barber unconscious for several minutes on the Octagon floor, a stoppage that drew heavy attention across American MMA media at the time and lingered as one of the division’s most talked-about finishes of the year. The loss snapped a seven-fight winning streak built on victories over Amanda Ribas, Katlyn Cerminara and Karine Silva, results that had kept Barber squarely in the flyweight title picture.
Barber now looks to get back on track against an opponent on the rise, in a fight that carries real weight for her standing in a crowded division. Her resume against ranked opposition remains one of her strongest arguments heading into December, but a second straight loss, her first appearance back since the Grasso stoppage, would push her dangerously close to falling out of the rankings entirely.
Carli Judice rides a four-fight win streak
Carli Judice, 27, is 7-2 as a professional and 4-1 inside the UFC. She dropped her promotional debut to Gabriella Fernandes by split decision, then reeled off four straight wins, including finishes of Yuneisy Duben, Nicolle Caliari and Jeisla Chaves. She most recently stopped Chaves with a body kick followed by ground-and-pound strikes just 99 seconds into their August fight, one of the fastest finishes in the division this year.
The Barber booking marks a significant step up in competition for Judice, according to the American outlets that confirmed the matchup. A win would put her squarely in the flyweight rankings conversation, a division tracked weekly on our UFC rankings page, and would mark the biggest result of her career so far against a fighter who has shared the Octagon with some of the division’s best.
Both women will have close to two months to prepare, giving Barber extra time to address the finish that ended her last appearance and giving Judice a full camp to adjust for the step up in opposition. Neither side has commented publicly on the matchup since the announcement.
Quentin Pasley faces Junior Tafa
The card’s second addition pairs light heavyweights Quentin Pasley and Junior Tafa. Pasley, undefeated through four professional fights and a finisher in every one of them, earned his UFC contract in September on week five of Dana White’s Contender Series season 10, knocking out Arlind Berisha in the first round. UFC CEO Dana White compared him to Jon Jones while awarding the contract, a rare comparison that immediately turned heads around his arrival in the promotion and puts extra scrutiny on his official UFC debut.
Junior Tafa enters at 3-6 inside the UFC and is looking to snap a difficult run of results against an opponent making his organizational debut, in what shapes up as a real measuring stick for the prospect’s hype. A win for Pasley would make an immediate statement in a light heavyweight division that American fans have watched closely all year.
Both bookings were confirmed by multiple American outlets, including Sherdog and Bloody Elbow, citing sources close to the promotion. No weigh-in date or broadcast details have been announced yet for a card still three months away.
A stacked card to close out the year
UFC 335 is the promotion’s final numbered event of 2026 before its year-end break. The card is headlined by Charles Oliveira defending his BMF title against Diego Lopes, with a heavyweight bout between Alex Pereira and Sergei Pavlovich, plus Joe Pyfer against Bo Nickal and Brandon Moreno against Charles Johnson. With these two additions, the December 12 lineup now stands at six confirmed fights and is expected to grow further in the coming weeks as the promotion rounds out its last numbered show of the year. Track the full lineup and its updates on our UFC schedule 2026.
