5 Defining Moments: Maycee Barber

Minimal distance now stands between Maycee Barber and a crack at the undisputed Ultimate Fighting Championship women’s bantamweight title.

The Team Alpha Male standout will attempt to close the gap further when she meets Erin Blanchfield in the UFC on ESPN 68 main event on May 31 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Barber heads into the bout on a six-fight winning streak that spans nearly four years. Victories over Jessica Eye, Andrea Lee, J.J. Aldrich, Gillian Robertson and former Jungle Fight champion Amanda Ribas anchor the Greeley, Colorado, native’s resume.

As Barber approaches her high-stakes showdown with Blanchfield at 125 pounds, a look at five of the many moments that have come to define her:

1. Moving Day

Barber secured an Ultimate Fighting Championship contract when she systematically dismantled and put away onetime King of the Cage titleholder Jamie Colleen Miller with elbows in the third round of their women’s strawweight showcase during Week 5 of Dana White’s Contender Series on July 17, 2018 at the UFC Training Center in Las Vegas. The end came 4:15 into Round 3. Barber employed a multi-pronged approach—she kicked effectively at all levels with both legs—but did some of her best work in the clinch, where she battered her opponent with standing elbows, forearm strikes and knees to the body at close range. She integrated takedowns in the second and third rounds, giving Colleen yet another weapon with which to concern herself. Late in Round 3, Barber executed a trip takedown, assumed a dominant posture in top position and started driving elbows into her opponent’s face. One of the strikes tore open a cut across the bridge of Colleen’s nose and prompted referee Herb Dean to intervene.

2. Proof Positive

Barber dazzled in her organizational debut when she disposed of Hannah Cifers with ferocious ground-and-pound in the second round of their UFC Fight Night 139 women’s strawweight attraction on Nov. 10, 2018 at the Pepsi Center in Denver. Referee Kevin MacDonald stepped in to wave it off 2:01 into Round 2. Barber unleashed her weapons in the clinch from the start, attacking the Titan Fighting Championship alum with foot stomps, standing elbows, short punches and knee strikes. Cifers held her own for much of the first round; the second was a different story. There, Barber slashed open two cuts with standing elbows—one near the left eye, the other on the right side of the North Carolinian’s forehead—before driving her to the mat in a pool of her own blood. Punches and elbows continued to fall until the job was done. The loss snapped Cifers’ five-fight winning streak.

3. World of Hurt

Roxanne Modafferi leaned on takedowns, positional control and heavy ground-and-pound when she upset the previously unbeaten and heavily favored Barber by unanimous decision in the featured UFC 246 prelim on Jan. 18, 2020 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Scores were 30-27, 30-27 and 30-26. Barber spent much of the first round pinned beneath “The Happy Warrior,” but her situation took an ominous turn in the second. After absorbing a Modafferi jab, the 21-year-old’s left knee appeared to buckle underneath her. Modafferi moved into top position and sliced open the stricken prospect with a well-placed elbow strike that had blood flowing freely. Barber retreated to her corner with a visible limp between rounds, clearly compromised by her injured knee. Modafferi struck for a takedown in the third round, took advantage of the situation, extracted herself from an attempted keylock and chewed up the remaining time with effective grappling. Afterward, it was revealed that Barber had sustained a complete ACL tear. She did not fight again for more than a year.

4. Ironing out the Kinks

Alexa Grasso pocketed what was at the time the most significant win of her career in the UFC 258 co-main event, where she took a unanimous decision from Barber on Feb. 13, 2021 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. All three members of the assigned judiciary turned in 29-28 scorecards. It marked Barber’s first appearance since she tore her ACL in the aforementioned loss to Modafferi. Grasso kept her off-stride with crisp punching combinations while also proving to be unexpectedly effective in the clinch and on the ground. She surprised Barber in the second round, where she conceded a takedown, then swept into top position under threat of an armbar. Grasso attacked with shoulder strikes from half guard, hunted an arm-triangle and ultimately maneuvered onto the Dana White Contender Series graduate’s back. Barber made an admirable push in Round 3, where she hit the accelerator, connected with sweeping hooks with both hands and remained the aggressor. Still, the effort was not enough to dig her out of a two-rounds-to-none hole.

5. All the Way Back

A bullying clinch and timely takedowns carried Barber to a three-round unanimous decision over ex-Cage Fury Fighting Championships titleholder Katlyn Cerminara as part of the UFC 299 undercard on March 9, 2024 at the Kaseya Center in Miami. Scores were 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28. Operating in the shadows of the Sean O’Malley-Marlon Vera headliner, Cerminara enjoyed success at range but had issues controlling distance. Barber lured her into repeated clinches and unleashed all her tools at close range, from knees, elbows and short punches to violent shoulder strikes and foot stomps. She upped her aggression in Round 3, where she completed a pair of takedowns to put the final touches on another triumphant performance