Blanchfield was all set to make the walk for her main event bout at UFC Vegas 107 only to hear at the last minute that her opponent was forced out of the event on medical grounds.
Maycee Barber had missed weight at Friday’s weigh-ins, coming in half a pound over the 126-pound non-title limit for the fight at the UFC APEX, but everything appeared to be on course as fight night got underway in Las Vegas.
But, as the co-main event bout between Mateusz Gamrot and Ludovit Klein was playing out inside the Octagon, another story was unfolding backstage, as Barber suffered a reported seizure and was forced out of the event on medical grounds.
In the red corner dressing room, Blanchfield was just completing her pre-fight warmups and was preparing to make the walk when UFC’s chief business officer Hunter Campbell entered the room to deliver the news Blanchfield had dreaded ever since she signed to face Barber.
Speaking to Megan Olivi on ESPN, Blanchfield picks up the story: “Hunter came in, saying that she was having a seizure and she’s having medical issues and that she’s not gonna be able to fight.
“I knew once I saw him that it wasn’t something good, because he was kind of like being real serious. Yeah, I feel like I’m just in a little disbelief.
“We were already told six minutes to the walkout. We already warmed up. I hit pads, I was warming up with my training partner. I was literally ready to go. I feel like I could already smell the cage. I was ready. And then we just got the news.”
Blanchfield had stated earlier in the week her concerns over Barber’s ability to make it to fight night after a bout between the pair in 2021 was cancelled due to undisclosed reasons, and a later bout between Barber and Namajunas fell through due to medical issues for Barber.
And, unfortunately, more medical issues befell Barber on fight night as she was forced to withdraw from the bout just minutes from her walkout.
Blanchfield admitted that she thought any issues from the weigh-ins would have been identified much earlier, so assumed all was well – until she got the news.
“I definitely thought we were in the clear,” she said.
“I feel like it’s pretty rare on fight day that somebody pulls out, especially (as) they missed weight so they didn’t push super hard on the weight cut. They probably had recovered well. So, yeah, I didn’t expect this.”
In the end, it meant that Blanchfield was unable to put her training camp into action to push her claims for a shot at the flyweight title. Now she’ll sit down with her management, coaches, and the UFC matchmakers to formulate a new plan.
One thing that plan won’t involve, Blanchfield said, is a rebooked fight against Barber.
“No, my coaches right away were like, Don’t entertain her. She’s not on your level. Super unprofessional,” she stated.
“I’d love another five-rounder against someone else in the top five. Keep working my way towards the title.
“I don’t know exactly what, yet, I’ll talk to my manager and Mick, and figure it out.
“I guess I can just take what I learned from my training camp and try to build upon that for the next fight. I basically did everything besides actually get get into the cage tonight. So I could still grow from that.”
