MMA Fighter 'Doing Great' After Suffering Medical Emergency

UFC competitor Maycee Barber had her fighting career halted by a medical emergency before a bout back in May, but the 27-year-old is ready to get back in the octagon.

Barber told TMZ Sports she's "doing great" and preparing for her comeback matchup against flyweight Karine Silva at UFC 323 on Dec. 6.

"I feel good, I'm excited," Barber told TMZ. "It's been definitely a process of mental battles, and then also the physical battle of recovering and just being back to training, and there's a lot to go through."

This isn't the first comeback for Barber, who is 14-2 in her UFC career. She has not fought since March 9, 2024, when she defeated Katlyn Cerminara by unanimous decision.

Shortly after that, the Colorado native was hospitalized due to a vicious combination of pneumonia, strep throat, and a staph infection. The illness prevented her from competing in a UFC event in July 2024, but Barber was slated to face Erin Blanchfield at UFC on ESPN 68 on May 31, 2025.

However, that's when disaster struck.

Seizure KOs Barber

According to reports, Barber suffered a medical event--some type of seizure--backstage at the UFC Apex in Enterprise, Nevada.

"We're not entirely sure [what happened]," Barber told ESPN days later. "There was an event that happened in the back when I was warming up, and the doctor, the commissioners, everybody saw it. The commissioners were asking if I was OK. I was saying that I was, and they didn't think that I was.

"It looked like my autonomic nervous system might have been having an issue, it looked like a 'pseudo-seizure,' is what I was told, but I don't have an answer. We need to run more tests."

'The Future' is now

Despite her scary setback, Barber, whose nickname is "The Future" is ready to get back to fighting.

The sixth-ranked women's flyweight and No. 14 pound-for-pound women's UFC fighter, Barber is less than two months from facing Silva.

"This is my time to shine," she told TMZ. "This has been my layoff, this has been my comeback. And I just feel like this is the perfect fight for me to just go out there and put on a performance, and just remind people that the reason why they followed my career and the reason why they've followed my journey and everything about what I've done."