Maycee Barber put her health first when deciding to pull the plug UFC on ESPN 59 main event against Rose Namajunas.
Part of the reason Barber (14-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC) moved up to women’s flyweight, where she has won six in a row, at strawweight, is because cutting weight was taking a toll on her body. She has been open about it in the pastbut it seems there are still some lingering problems.
Barber was scheduled to fight Namajunas in her first Octagon headliner on July 13 at the Ball Arena in Denver, but less than three weeks before the card she had to withdraw and was replaced by Tracy Cortez.
It was a difficult decision, Barber said, but also the right one. According to the 26-year-old, her training camp was a disaster and all the health issues made it impossible to effectively prepare for a former UFC champion like Namajunas.
Check out Barber’s detailed statement below (via Instagram):
This is the last post I wanted to do in July. I wish I was posting about being 2 weeks away from my first main event. God must have other plans in store for the future Unfortunately, as many of you may know, I was hospitalized for many days after my last fight. I spent 9 days in the hospital less than 2 months ago. The doctors at the time couldn’t figure out exactly what was going on and I ended up developing pneumonia at that time.
I was given countless rounds of oral and IV antibiotics, which completely wrecked my system. When I took this fight I was told that I would be fine when July rolled around and so after a few weeks I went back to training and camp, as I got deeper into camp I just couldn’t find the intensity needed to get ready for a fight for 5 rounds and much less for the first 5 minutes of training. I wanted so badly to be able to go there and perform in front of my house, family and friends. Especially against such a high level opponent like Rose.
Although I’ve tried to keep moving forward, my team has recognized that I’m just physically nowhere near where I need to be to safely enter a fight, let alone a single training session, without putting myself at risk of taking damage for the rest of the fight. life. I needed to find answers as to why my body is seemingly turning against me. I went to a team of medical professionals who, together with the UFC, did extensive tests on my blood, urine and sinus microbiome, my gut and my hormones and there are many things that physically don’t work well in my body; and are being exacerbated by an Epstein-barr virus infection that we found. This is causing body aches, headaches, as well as extreme fatigue and an inability to recover between training sessions. I keep trying to overcome the fatigue, but every time I do, I get symptoms consistent with the lab findings.
The more we investigate my physiology and my immune system, the more apparent it becomes that not only did the countless rounds of antibiotics I received after my hospitalization destroy my immune system, but also the constant training compounded to put me in a position of essentially always feeling sick. and always completely exhausted. After I was informed of the serious risks of a ruptured spleen, among other life-altering risks, I was devastated.
We made the decision with my coaching team, the Drs and the UFC that my physical health must be taken care of now so that I can race in the future.
Barber did not reveal a timeline for when she could return to competition as she analyzes her recovery and finds a way forward. What she does know, however, is that pursuing the fight against Namajunas, however significant the opportunity, would have been detrimental to her in many ways.
For more information on the card, visit the MMA Junkie events hub to UFC on ESPN 59.
