Maycee Barber has broken her silence following her late withdrawal from the UFC Vegas 107 main event.
Barber was slated to face Erin Blanchfield in Saturday’s Fight Night headliner at the UFC APEX. The promo video for the fight finished airing, which would normally lead to the first fighter walking to the octagon. Instead, commentators Brendan Fitzgerald, Daniel Cormier and Laura Sanko revealed that Barber was about to make her walk before turning around and heading back to the locker room area.
After a commercial break, Fitzgerald announced that a late “medical issue” for Barber scratched her from the fight altogether — leading to some harsh words from Blanchfield, saying Barber is “a complete mess in every aspect of her entire life.”
On Sunday, Barber released a statement on Instagram, although specifics weren’t given as to why she wasn’t medically cleared to compete, along with a bit of a response to Blanchfield.
“Not what I had planned for a Sunday post,” Barber wrote. “Thank you to everyone for the prayers and support. I owe an apology to UFC, [Mick Maynard, Dana White, Sean Shelby, and Erin Blanchfield].
“P.S.: My life is not messy this is just a bad hand. We will get to the bottom of it all and be back.”
The “messy” comment is in direct response to Blanchfield’s criticism aimed at Barber after the fight was cancelled when she said the 27-year-old flyweight was a “complete mess in every aspect of her entire life.”
Barber was scheduled to make her first appearance in 14 months following health issues that had her hospitalized for several days following her UFC 299 win over Katlyn Cerminara. “The Future” told MMA Fighting that she wasn’t given any exact answers from doctors in regards to what the issues were.
