Kamaru Usman is aware of all in regards to the stress of an enormous battle, so he has some perspective in terms of Maycee Barber not making the stroll to the octagon this previous Saturday.
Barber, driving a six-fight win streak, was scheduled to battle Erin Blanchfield in a flyweight contenders’ bout in the principle occasion of UFC Vegas 107. Nonetheless, simply earlier than the headliner was about to kick off, it was introduced on the published that Barber had withdrawn from the bout resulting from well being points.
An understandably pissed off Blanchfield later instructed reporters she has no plans to re-book the matchup and accused Barber of being “a complete mess in every aspect of her entire life.”
On his Pound-4-Pound podcast, Usman shared his ideas about what occurred Saturday.
“It was a really complicated scenario,” Usman mentioned. “They interviewed Erin Blanchfield after the battle, and, you realize, she wasn’t improper, actually, with something she mentioned in that interview. Take a look at it. On Friday, Maycee missed weight by half a pound, and didn’t return to attempt to get it off. … So the battle already didn’t begin in a great way.”
Usman isn’t simply talking as an outdoor observer. He was in attendance for a few of Barber’s coaching periods and from what he noticed, Barber regarded able to make a press release. As a substitute, Barber ended up pulling out of her second straight battle after she withdrew from a matchup with Rose Namajunas in July 2024, additionally resulting from well being issues, the specifics of which stay unrevealed.
A longtime welterweight champion, Usman remembers his personal struggles with making that step out previous the curtain on battle night time.
“The loopy factor is, I received to see Maycee Barber prepare for this battle,” Usman mentioned. “She was working onerous. She was coaching actually onerous. She had nice coaching companions, I noticed her do nice drilling. … Seemed nice. So all this was sort of—clearly there have been various things which have led as much as this all through her profession which have sort of put a black eye on every thing. However lacking the load after which not displaying up.
“We don’t know what occurred again there. Erin Blanchfield was instructed she had a seizure. Generally you get these jitters. Hey, all of us get these jitters. You about to stroll out, I’ve received to pee, I’ve received to poop on the identical time, I don’t know what’s happening. You’re scared, you’re excited, you’re anxious. Generally that flood of feelings could be an excessive amount of for some guys. There are some guys that get to the world—there have been guys that haven’t made the stroll. Everybody thinks, as a result of everyone seems to be so spoiled watching us go different there and do this stuff, they don’t assume we take care of these nerves within the again. We’re all human and we take care of all these nerves. Whether or not it’s a panic assault or one thing, generally, when you get in that rabbit gap, it’s very onerous to come back out. Particularly when there’s a clock on you saying, ‘Alright, 5 minutes, we’re strolling! 4 minutes!’ Once you get in there, it’s very, very troublesome to crawl out.”
When Barber competes once more is anyone’s guess. In a press release following the UFC Vegas 107 fundamental occasion cancellation, the 27-year-old apologized to the UFC and Blanchfield, including, “We will get to the bottom of it all and be back.”
For now, Barber probably has to just accept that her status has taken one other hit within the court docket of public opinion.
“All of us get nervous again there, nevertheless it’s a part of being an expert,” Usman mentioned. “It’s a part of being within the UFC, the most important, most recognizable group on the planet. Once you get on this stage, hopefully you have got performed all of the work to have the ability to hone in on all of these jitters, all of these emotions, so you’ll be able to go on the market and appear like an expert within the largest group on the planet.
“So if that’s what occurred, then Erin wasn’t essentially improper. Possibly Maycee must see a sport psych or somebody to hone every thing in. However that was not a great look. It wasn’t.”
