Maycee Barber is back in the UFC title picture, but she’s not letting a controversial moment from her last fight slide.
The women’s flyweight contender delivered a strong bounce, back performance at UFC 323, outpointing Karine Silva over three rounds after a long and frightening medical layoff earlier in the year. The win pushed Maycee Barber back into contention and kept her momentum alive in a crowded division.
Still, the victory came with lingering frustration. Midway through the fight, Silva landed an illegal upkick that briefly halted the action. Referee Mark Smith paused the bout but quickly ruled the strike a “glancing” blow, declined to penalize Silva, and allowed the fight to continue. Barber strongly disagrees with that assessment—and says it changed how safe she feels inside the Octagon.
“I was told several times this is a great ref, and from my perspective now, I don’t want him reffing my fights at all,” Barber said in an interview with MMA Fighting. “I don’t feel safe in there with him anymore. I don’t feel like he’s a very fair ref.”
Maycee Barber explained that the moment left her confused and shaken in real time. She initially believed she had done something wrong because of how the stoppage unfolded.
“All I remember was my face and my neck feeling like I hit my funny bone. Everything was tingly,” Barber said. “He told me to stop, and I thought I was in trouble. I was so confused. I was scared they were going to stop the fight and that I did something wrong.”
Replays later showed the upkick landed cleanly, a point echoed by the UFC broadcast team during the event. Despite that, Smith neither awarded Barber recovery time nor returned her to a dominant ground position.
“When I watched it back, I wobbled,” Barber said. “He told me it was a glancing blow. I was surprised. If you’re the ref, at least put her back down on the ground or take a point. It is what it is.”
Barber acknowledged that officials are human, but she stressed that referees carry immense responsibility when fighters’ careers, and health, are on the line.
“People have bad days, so I try not to be too harsh,” she said. “But this is my job. My job is on the line. He gets paid regardless. We’re the ones risking everything.”
The referee controversy wasn’t the only issue Barber noticed on the rewatch. She also pointed out a timing error late in the second round that allowed a submission attempt to unfold when the round should have ended.
“There was like 10 seconds that shouldn’t have even happened,” Barber said. “That whole sequence wouldn’t have happened. Stuff happens. There’s human error. I got the unanimous decision and it’s fine.”
Despite the setbacks, Maycee Barber remains focused on the future. After enduring a 21-month layoff filled with hospital visits and unanswered medical questions, she’s eager to stay active and chase bigger opportunities in 2026.
“Ideally, I want a quick turnaround,” Barber said. “I don’t want another long layoff. I want to be back in camp, ready to fight. If that’s February, great. If it’s the White House card, even better.”
For now, Maycee Barber is healthy, winning again, and firmly back in the conversation, just with one clear condition moving forward.
