UFC flyweight Maycee Barber has hit back at Erin Blanchfield's claims that her life is 'a mess' after a seizure forced her to withdraw from their main event clash at UFC Fight Night on Saturday. Barber, 27, was pulled from the bout just before her entrance after suffering a seizure backstage at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Blanchfield publicly criticised Barber, branding her 'unprofessional' and ruling out a future rematch. In response, Barber took to social media to defend herself, stating: 'Not what I had planned for a Sunday post. 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.' She also shared images of herself connected to ECG leads and in a hospital bed.
Barber had missed weight at Friday's weigh-in, coming in at 126.5lbs, but the fight was ultimately cancelled due to her medical emergency. The American had been on a six-fight winning streak after losses to Roxanne Modafferi and Alexa Grasso earlier in her career.
Blanchfield later softened her stance on The Ariel Helwani Show, clarifying that her criticism was aimed at Barber's weight miss and approach, not her medical issues. 'She can't control medical issues that she's having, so that's not unprofessional,' Blanchfield said. 'I meant more the weight miss on Friday and the way she approached it.' She added that Barber's unreliability and failure to disclose her condition earlier were the main issues.
