In the blink of an eye, Maycee Barber went from UFC contender to suffering one of the most brutal finishes in recent memory.
The women’s flyweight fighter was taking on Alexa Grasso during the co-main event of Saturday’s UFC Fight Night card when she was not only knocked out by a hard left punch, but she was then also quickly choked out.
The devastating sequence occurred in the first round of the fight, which pit Barber — who ranked No. 5 in the division heading into the bout — against Grasso, a former champion.
Roughly two and a half minutes into the match, Grasso connected with a vicious left hook to Barber’s chin, which appeared to knock her unconscious and she collapsed to the mat — while also twisting around so that her back was to Grasso.
With her fighter’s instinct immediately kicking in, Grasso then cinched in a rear-naked choke before referee Mike Beltran jumped in to stop the match.
As Grasso leapt to her feet to celebrate, a clearly dazed Barber grabbed Beltran’s leg before again collapsing to the mat.
While medical personnel attended to her, Barber’s eyes were wide open and she was breathing heavily but otherwise not moving.
Grasso, upon noticing her opponent clearly was in trouble, then respectfully paused her celebration.
It took officials more than three minutes to wake Barber from the daze and get her on a stool. She was able to participate in the official ring announcement of the fight’s result, but was taken to hospital shortly afterward.
How is Maycee Barber doing now?
Barber apparently was OK after the scary scene, posting an image of herself receiving treatment on social media later that night.
“Part of the game,” she wrote on the post. “Congrats to Alexa, we got caught but are OK. Will be back soon thanks for checking in.”
On Sunday, she posted a video on social media saying that she was alright despite looking like she was “dead” in the octagon.
“I don’t really remember a whole lot,” Barber said. “All I know is that every time I go on social media, I look like I’m dead. And that’s not a very fun thing to see.
“So I’ve been trying to stay off of social media, but I also wanted to come on here and at least tell you guys that I am OK, and I will be back.”
She also thanked the UFC for the opportunity and praised Grasso as “a phenomenal fighter.”