Erin Blanchfield could hardly believe it when her highly anticipated main event at UFC on ESPN 68 was called off just moments before she was set to make the walk.
Blanchfield (13-2 MMA, 7-2 UFC) had prepared for weeks to face fellow flyweight contender Maycee Barber (14-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC), but as fight time approached on Saturday night, she sensed something wasn’t right. Just as the walkout music should have kicked in, a strange silence and sudden confusion began to unfold—signaling that something unexpected had derailed the evening's headliner.
"I thought I was going to be told, 'OK, it's time to go.’” Blanchfield revealed to reporter at the post-fight press conference. “Then, Hunter (Campbell) comes in and tells me what happened. Yeah, it's pretty crazy."
Blanchfield stated that UFC Chief Business Officer Hunter Campbell informed her Barber may have experienced a seizure. However, as of now, the promotion has yet to release an official statement confirming any details.
"I feel like I'm still in pretty much disbelief right now. I feel like I was in disbelief yesterday when she missed weight because we knew about this fight since January. You could've been 50 pounds overweight and still missed weight. So she missed weight, then she gets to Saturday. She gets to the locker room. I'm fully ready to go. She's supposed to be ready to go. Supposedly now she has all these health issues right when we're supposed to fight. I think it's pretty crazy. I think it's pretty unprofessional. I wouldn't want to fight her again."
The two were originally slated to fight in 2021, but the bout fell through when Barber pulled out. Blanchfield's frustration only grew after Friday’s weigh-ins, when Barber came in half a pound over the flyweight limit.
"We're supposed to be top five in the world, be professional, be the best in the world," Blanchfield said. "So yeah, that was concerning."
When asked what she’d say to Barber, Blanchfield didn’t mince words. She admitted she’d never encountered anything like this throughout her entire fighting career—both as an amateur and a professional.
"I don't know, she needs to look at another division," Blanchfield said. "She needs to fix her life. She just needs to fix herself. I think she's a complete mess in every aspect of her entire life."
