The UFC Vegas 107 fight card on Saturday was supposed to be headlined by a women’s flyweight bout between No. 4 ranked Erin Blanchfield and No. 5 ranked Maycee Barber. Neither fighter ended up stepping foot inside the octagon at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Due to a Barber medical issue and not being cleared to fight moments before make the walk to the octagon, the bout was abruptly cancelled. During the event’s post-fight press conference, Blanchfield ripped Barber.
“I feel like I’m in pretty disbelief right now. I feel like I was in disbelief yesterday when she missed weight because we’ve known about this fight since January. You could have been 50 pounds overweight and still made weight,” Blanchfield said.
“So she missed weight. 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 she has all these health issues right before we’re supposed to fight. I think it’s pretty crazy, pretty unprofessional. I wouldn’t want to fight her again,” Blanchfield continued. “I would not want to book another fight with her.”
The fight promotion didn’t disclose what medical issue Barber was dealing with on Saturday, but Blanchfield shared what she was told.
Related: Erin Blanchfield reacts to UFC Vegas 107 main event cancelation
“I was told she had a seizure in the locker room. I don’t know how or why exactly that was caused, but that’s what I was told,” Blanchfield said.
“I was literally told, ‘six minutes until walkout.’ It was already six minutes. I thought I was being told, okay, it’s time to go and then Hunter [Campbell] comes in and tells me what happened. It’s pretty crazy.”
Blanchfield had no sympathy for Barber. She berated the Top 5 contender and offered some brutal advice.
“She needs to look at another division. She needs to fix her life. She just needs to fix herself,” Blanchfield said. “I think she’s a complete mess in every aspect of her entire life.”
Erin Blanchfield missed an opportunity
Blanchfield would have entered the bout having won 10 of her last 11 fights and was coming off a decision win over former two-time strawweight titleholder Rose Namajunas. With a solid performance, she could have earned a title shot. When Barber couldn’t compete, Blanchfield lost a big opportunity.
“This fight was possibly a contenders fight,” Blanchfield said. “I was really ready to put on a show tonight. It definitely leaves me in a bit of a weird place. I mean I know there’s other girls in the Top 5 that I could fight. I guess we’ll just have to go back and reassess.”
