Getty Images photo; MMA Junkie photo illustration

Miranda Maverick actually did not feel the need … the need for speed … when she got back in the win column at UFC 291.

Maverick (12-5 MMA, 5-3 UFC) submitted Priscila Cachoeira (12-5 MMA, 4-5 UFC) with an armbar midway through the third round to open the prelims at Delta Center in Salt Lake City. The finish didn’t get Maverick a post-fight bonus, but it did get her back on track after an upset loss to Jasmine Jasudavicius in June.

Maverick said she was worried about potentially dirty tactics from Cachoeira, and seemed to experience it when Cachoeira’s arm managed to make its way under Maverick’s top, leaving her momentarily exposed.

Maverick – whose last name happens to be the name of one of the greatest movie characters in the history of the world, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in the 1986 classic “Top Gun” and its 2022 sequel – thought it was intentional. And given that, if she took her time and wanted to punish the Brazilian a little, perhaps we’d forgive her.

“I had softened her up plenty, thrown a lot of elbows, thrown a lot of punches, and she kept just sticking those hands up there, prime for the taking for an armbar,” Maverick said backstage at her UFC 291 post-fight news conference. “I just wanted to wait until I had her in enough pain that she wouldn’t fight it off as much as she would have the first or second round. … I knew once I had that armbar, she wasn’t getting out without a broken arm, and I think she pretty much tapped right at the beginning. Then she held on again, then she tapped again, and I just waited for the ref to grab ahold of me before I let go of it.”

Maverick walked out to the Harold Faltermeyer main titles theme for “Top Gun” this past Saturday, and though it seems like an obvious choice, she hasn’t always done it.

For her promotional debut at UFC 254 and her follow-up at UFC 260, she came out to “Immigrant Song” by Led Zeppelin. For her third bout in the UFC, she made the switch to “Only Jesus” by Casting Crowns. And she’s kept things fluid by walking to the same “Top Gun” theme at UFC 289 in June. But she tempted any bad karma from the song by walking to it again and got a much more desirable result.

Coincidentally, Maverick fought on the same card as the UFC’s other “Maverick” – Michael Chiesa, who has it as his nickname. And a cool nickname it is, appropriate for a sport like MMA. But Maverick thinks she has the edge.

“My last name’s Maverick. I think it’s one of the best names in the sport,” she said. “Michael Chiesa is fighting tonight and he has the nickname, but he doesn’t have the real name. I go in there repping that (name) every time. ‘Top Gun’ is kind of the perfect entrance with it. I love the movie, I love the song, I love America – so it all goes together.”

Maverick said she’s given some thought to a no-brainer nickname like “Top Gun,” but certainly won’t anoint herself with the new moniker since that would break one of MMA’s longstanding unwritten rules.

“There’s been thought,” Maverick said, “(but) I have the thought of trademarks and all that can come into play in question. I don’t want to get in trouble with that aspect. Also, I believe in the whole somebody else gives you your nickname (concept), and even though ‘Top Gun’ is a pretty cool nickname, I think Maverick alone’s good enough.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 291.