Opinion: Maycee Barber and the Culture of Weight Cutting

Editor’s note: The views and opinions expressed below are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sherdog.com, its affiliates and sponsors or its parent company, Evolve Media. Additionally, the article was updated at 2:30 on June 1 to reflect the Hall weight cutting debacle.

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The main event of UFC Vegas 107 saved it from going down as a forgettable, subpar card, but not for the typical reason. Usually, that means that the headliner blew every other fight out of the water, but in this case, it’s because the bout didn’t happen at all. That’s about all this card will be remembered for, as a main event being cancelled at the literal last minute will be an easy memory for fans to retrieve.

The promotional video for the main event between Erin Blanchfield and Maycee Barber had just wrapped up and an uncomfortable silence followed; an unusual silence. I initially believed it to be a technical error by the production team, and it would have been preferable if that had been the case. As Barber was walking out, she suffered what the broadcasting team called a “medical issue” and she wasn't going to be walking out to the cage. At that point, they didn’t know what was up, so the viewing public didn't know either. Was it a panic attack? Was it a freak injury that occurred while she was warming up, or even when she was walking to the cage? Mixed martial arts has a history of freak injuries like that, including Kevin Randleman slipping on some pipes backstage and knocking himself out when he was supposed to be headlining UFC 24.

It wasn’t any of that. While Blanchfield was being interviewed following the cancellation of her contest, she let the cat out of the bag that it was a seizure that prevented Barber from making the walk to the cage. Sure, the MMA community would have mercilessly mocked Barber had it been a case of nerves -- myself included -- but we all would have preferred that had been the case rather than something as serious as a seizure.

While the entire situation is bad, it could have been much worse for Barber. Reports indicate Barber was on her way to the cage when the incident occurred. Imagine if it had happened just minutes later, while she was in the cage with Blanchfield. Depending on the severity of the event, that alone could be life-threatening. One of the top MMA fighters in the world in that weight class punching her in the face would have greatly increased the likelihood of a tragic outcome. Thus, while no one is happy the situation happened, it’s hard to feel that there wasn’t some luck in the timing.

The initial thought after it happened was that this was a situation out of Barber’s control. Seizures out of nowhere tend to occur due to undiagnosed epilepsy or genetic disorders. While it is possible that’s the case here, according to reports, there’s a far more likely explanation: severe dehydration due to an unhealthy weight cut.

Barber ended up missing weight for the contest. Often, MMA talking heads throw shade at those who fail to make weight, deeming them unprofessional and accusing them of not having done enough. All one had to do is look at a picture of Barber weighing in and they’ll know there wasn't any more weight for her to cut. She was gaunt with a lifeless look in her eyes. It shouldn’t have been a huge shock to us that Barber suffered a medical episode. If anything, it should be a shock that this doesn’t happen more often, given how often we’ve seen fighters step up onto the scale looking skeletal.

Perhaps I should word that differently. Perhaps I should say it should be a shock to us that we don’t hear about it more as opposed to it happening more. Consider that UFC Vegas 107 had already had one bout fall casualty to weight cutting, as Trevin Giles lost consciousness, reportedly fell and hit his head on Friday, forcing the cancellation of his scheduled bout with Andreas Gustafsson.

In the immediate aftermath of the cancellation, Sherdog Associate Editor Jay Pettry reminded me of an situation when former UFC middleweight Uriah Hall suffered a seizure during his weight cut, resulting in what he claimed was a "slight heart attack." Given how reluctant human beings are to express their most vulnerable moments, it’s safe to say Hall is in the minority in that he suffered his ailment publicly, letting the world know that his kidneys started to fail due to severe weight cutting. Who else has suffered that fate? How many have suffered multiple seizures? How many don’t make significant changes to their weight cutting process and continue to put themselves at risk? It’s not as though seizures can’t cause long-term damage either. I knew a master mechanic who had his livelihood taken away from him after a single seizure. Inviting a greater probability of suffering a seizure isn’t something to be taken lightly.

What’s worse, there’s strong evidence seizures can be invited by years of extreme cuts. Even if a fighter figures out late in their career how to make the cut properly or even decide to cut less weight, the damage dehydration does to the brain tends to linger. Hall’s greatest career success arguably came after suffering that incident, perhaps because he stopped cutting as much weight. While he struggled when facing the top echelon of competition, perhaps he was held back for health reasons too. Along those lines, Barber herself used to fight at 115 pounds. It’s fair to speculate whether that could have played a part in Barber’s seizure, even if it was years ago that she stopped making those cuts.

Fighters should also be wise in how they mold their bodies. Packing on too much muscle can create further complications with weight cutting. In Barber’s case, she appears to have had surgical enhancement since she last competed. If that is the case, was it wise to pack on additional, uncuttable weight in a sport that involves weight cutting? I don’t know how much weight she could have added, but I think it was likely a factor in this situation. After all, Barber missed the non-title flyweight limit by just half a pound. I’ll let y’all speculate how much any possible enhancement may have contributed.

I can’t offer a solution. Weight cutting is dangerous, and competitive athletes are going to be willing to push the limits to gain the edge they think they need to find success. Unfortunately, there’s been cases where they exceeded the limits. Bellator fighter Daiane Silva went into a coma less than a year ago from a bad weight cut. An amateur fighter, Rondel Clark, died from kidney failure shortly after his contest in 2017. There’s never been cases to that extreme in the UFC, this perhaps being the worst outcome we’ve seen. Perhaps we should count it a blessing that Barber didn’t suffer worse. If the stage on which it happened helps prevent this happening to someone else, we might label it a blessing in disguise. Of course, we won’t ever know if it does. What we do know -- and I hate saying it -- is this won’t be the last time extreme weight cutting creates a health issue. Fighters are a different breed who take pride in the idea of “going out on their shield.” We should know better than to think an episode like this would scare them straight.