Blanchfield reiterates criticism of Barber following fight cancellation

WEB DESK: Erin Blanchfield doubled down on her criticism of Maycee Barber on Tuesday, who pulled out of their main event bout scheduled for earlier in the week.

Blanchfield and Barber were set to clash last Saturday, but the latter backed out at the last minute due to a medical emergency. Barber reportedly suffered a seizure and was wheeled out of the arena on a stretcher.

It wasn’t the first health scare for Barber, who had not competed since her UFC 299 win in March of 2024, as she was hospitalised shortly after for a staph infection that eventually led to pneumonia. The 27-year-old flyweight fighter also missed weight by half a pound on Friday.

“She needs to just fix herself. I think she’s a complete mess in every aspect of her entire life,” Blanchfield said, later adding that she would not accept another matchup against Barber.

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“PS my life is not messy this is just a bad hand,” Barber wrote on a social media post in response.

In an interview on Tuesday, MMA journalist Ariel Helwani asked Blacnhfield if she still felt that Barber was “unprofessional”, now knowing the health complications she faced. Blanchfield clarified that she her comment was in reference to Barber missing weight.

“She cant control medical issues that shes having so that’s not unprofessional. I meant more the weight miss, you know on Friday.”

However, Blanchfield stood by her statement that Barber was a “mess”, citing the fact that this was the second time that Barber had pulled out of a match between the two. She added that a fighter with such severe medical issues “will be kind of an unreliable fighter.”

“If she was having issues leading up into this fight, she should have pulled out sooner just so I would have been able to have like another opponent.”

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