Maycee Barber finally addressed the controversy surrounding her UFC 323 fight against Karine Silva. The 27 year old UFC flyweight who returned to the cage after a 21 month layoff successfully secured a win despite momentarily getting wobbled by Silva’s illegal upkick.
Maycee Barber on referee Mark Smith
Barber who had a fairly dominant display against Silva took an illegal upkick straight to her face which led to her getting momentarily wobbled. Surprisingly for the flyweight, referee Mark Smith instead of giving her time to recover told her it was just a “glancing blow”.
“The second time when she threw it, she landed it and all I remember was as soon as she hit me, I remember my face and my neck feeling like I hit my funny bone, recalled Barber.
“I was like what the heck? I thought that was the second time she hit me, for a second there and then I told him ‘that’s the second time!’ He was like ‘that didn’t hit you’ or something. All I remember him telling me is ‘stop’ and I thought I was in trouble.”
“Also when I watched the fight back, I wobbled. I was wobbly. He did tell me to stop. I was wondering why he was telling me…I thought I was in trouble. I was so confused at the time. I was scared that he was going to stop the fight and that I did something wrong. I was like oh no, they’re going to stop the fight.”
Instant replays showed Silva’s upkick land on her and Barber had to immediately adjust her gameplan to survive the rest of the round.
“I was like if I feel like this, I need to take her down. I need a little time but I guess I’m going to take her down. That’s my plan. I’m going to go take her down and I took her down.”
As a result the 27 year old doesn’t want to have Mark Smith in her fights in the future.
“I was told several times this is a great ref, and from my perspective now, I’m like I don’t want him reffing my fights at all,” Barber said. “I don’t feel safe in there with him anymore. I don’t feel like he’s a very fair ref.”
“People have bad days so I try not to be too harsh, but at the same time, that’s my job. My job is on the line. He can have a bad day at work, but he’s going to get paid regardless.”
After securing the win against Silva, Barber has set her sights on a future title shot and has major plans going into 2026.
The Colorado native would have liked to face former champ Alexa Grasso but is willing to go up against any of the other women available with plans to secure a spot on the White House card scheduled for June.
“Right now, I’m pretty much healthy. So I’m just going to be ready. I had such a long layoff, I don’t want a long layoff.”
“I want to turn around and fight. I want to be back in a camp again. I want to be preparing for another one. Just be ready. It would be great to be ready to fight in February and then turn around and fight at the White House.”
Who would you wan’t to see Maycee Barber face next? Let us know.
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