Erin Blanchfield rips Maycee Barber after craziest career fight week: 'I think she's a complete mess'
Erin Blanchfield rips Maycee Barber after craziest career fight week: 'I think she's a complete mess'
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Erin Blanchfield on Maycee Barber: 'She needs to fix her life'
UFC on ESPN 68 winner Erin Blanchfield talks to reporters post-fight after Maycee Barber was ruled out of their in main event due to a medical issue.
LAS VEGAS – Erin Blanchfield remembers getting the six-minute warning in the locker room.
As time passed, even in the adrenaline-warped mental state that comes moments before a fight, Blanchfield (13-2 MMA, 7-2 UFC) thought something was up.
"It was already six minutes," Blanchfield told MMA Junkie and other reporters backstage after UFC on ESPN 68. "I thought I was going to be told, 'OK, it's time to go.' Then, Hunter (Campbell) comes in and tells me what happened. Yeah, it's pretty crazy."
According to Blanchfield, Campbell told her Barber (14-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC) suffered a seizure moments before the walkout.
Meanwhile, a puzzled broadcast team tried to inform viewers why the pre-fight video package played but no fighter walked out. They needed to go to commercial break before relaying more info.
While it's unclear the exact circumstances of Barber's medical issue, Blanchfield struggled to wrap her head around the situation.
"I feel like I'm still in pretty much disbelief right now. I feel like I was in disbelief yesterday when she missed weight because we knew about this fight since January. You could've been 50 pounds overweight and still missed weight. So she missed weight, then she gets to Saturday. She gets to the locker room. I'm fully ready to go. She's supposed to be ready to go. Supposedly now she has all these health issues right when we're supposed to fight. I think it's pretty crazy. I think it's pretty unprofessional. I wouldn't want to fight her again."
The bad blood between Blanchfield and Barber subtly built since they were booked to fight in 2021. The bout was canceled due to Barber's withdrawal. Then when Barber missed weight Friday, things were taken to another level.
"We're supposed to be top-five in the world, be professional, be the best in the world," Blanchfield said. "So yeah, that was concerning."
Blanchfield didn't hold back when asked what advice she'd give Barber. She said she's never experienced anything remotely close to it during her competitive career, amateur and professional.
"I don't know, she needs to look at another division," Blanchfield said. "She needs to fix her life. She just needs to fix herself. I think she's a complete mess in every aspect of her entire life."
As for what's next, Blanchfield isn't sure. Had she impressively defeated Barber on Saturday, the performance could've aligned her for a title shot vs. Valentina Shevchenko. But with Natalia Silva also waiting in the wings, the road map for the division remains murky.
"This fight was possibly a (title eliminator) fight," Blanchfield said. "Valentina knows that. She wants to come watch her future competition. I was ready to really put on a show tonight. It definitely leaves me in a little bit of a weird place. I know there are other girls in the top five that I could fight. I guess we'll just have to go back and reassess."
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