Maycee Barber is reportedly out of her UFC 335 flyweight fight against Carli Judice, which was scheduled for December 12 at T-Mobile Arena.
The word came from MMA content creator Kevin (@realkevink), who posted on X on November 5: “Maycee Barber Is OUT Of Her #UFC335 Fight December 12th Per Sources Against Carli Judice.” That was the whole post. No reason, no named source. When Essentially Sports wrote it up the next day, the reason for the withdrawal still hadn’t been disclosed.
Judice was reportedly the betting favorite going in, which tells you where Barber’s stock sat after her spring. On March 28, 2026, Alexa Grasso knocked her out in the first round of a Fight Night main event. That’s a rough way to come back from a long road just to get back in the cage.
A thick medical file
Anyone who has followed Barber for the last couple of years knows the pattern, and it’s mostly about her health.
She beat Katlyn Cerminara by unanimous decision at UFC 299 on March 9, 2024, and earned a booking against Rose Namajunas for July 13 at UFC on ESPN 59. She pulled out of that one for medical reasons, and Cortez stepped in. Barber later explained on social media that she had been hospitalized after the Cerminara fight, writing, “I spent 9 days in the hospital less than 2 months ago.” She said she developed pneumonia and went through rounds of oral and IV antibiotics. Testing done with UFC involvement turned up abnormalities in her blood, urine, gut health, sinus microbiome and hormones, along with an Epstein-Barr virus infection. Those issues reportedly left her with muscle pain, headaches, severe exhaustion and poor recovery.
Then came May 31, 2025. Barber was headlining UFC on ESPN 68 against Erin Blanchfield, missed the 126-pound flyweight limit by half a pound, and was fined 20 percent of her purse, which went to Blanchfield. The bout moved to catchweight. Minutes before it was supposed to start, she was pulled after a medical emergency backstage. Reports said she suffered seizures. Barber told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto a few days later, “We’re not entirely sure what happened,” and said she couldn’t remember everything from the warm-up room.
She didn’t fight again until UFC 323 on December 6, 2025, where she took a unanimous decision over Karine Silva. Then came the Grasso loss, and now this.
What’s left of UFC 335
The card has already been through one shakeup. Joe Pyfer vs. Bo Nickal was cancelled and rescheduled. There’s still a little over a month until fight night, so the UFC has time to find Judice a new opponent if it wants to keep her on the card. Nothing has been reported on that front yet.
My take: I’m not loving a withdrawal that exists only as “per sources” on X, with nobody named and no reason given. Barber’s history means you hope it’s something minor and you hope she’s fine. But a fighter with this kind of medical record deserves a real explanation more than a vague post. Meanwhile Judice is a favorite with no opponent five weeks out, and somewhere there’s a flyweight with a passport and a decent cardio base who should be calling her manager tonight.
