believes her time is now.
With the medical issues of the past couple of years in her rearview, Maycee Barber is set to fight Alexa Grasso in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night on Saturday
There, the Greeley native and Denver resident believes she’ll deliver a performance that will extend her winning streak to eight and springboard her to her first career title shot in the flyweight division.
“It’ll be a finish over (Grasso),” Barber predicted. “It’ll be a win over a former champion. It’ll be a dominant performance over her. And I don’t think there will be anything else that I need to do to prove or anything more I need to do to be able to get a shot at the belt.
“At the end of the fight on Saturday night, I get to say that I want my title shot. So that’s what I get to look forward to, and I’m very excited for that.”
The bout is as Barber’s last loss came in 2021 to Grasso, via a unanimous decision at UFC 258 in Las Vegas. Since then, Barber’s piled up wins while Grasso won the belt in 2023 over Valentina Shevchenko. Then, the Mexican lost the belt in 2024 to Shevchenko, who successfully defended her title twice last year. Shevchenko is UFC’s top-ranked pound-for-pound female fighter.
Barber is fifth in the and Grasso is third. And while Barber has been on a win streak, she’s also dealt with a couple of health scares that kept her from fighting.
In the spring of 2024, following a victory over Katlyn Cerminara at UFC 299 in Miami, Barber was hospitalized for nine days. During that stay, Barber also developed pneumonia, and doctors couldn’t pin down exactly what was wrong. The fallout from that ordeal, in addition to being diagnosed with Epstein-Barr virus, led to Barber against fellow Coloradan Rose Namajunas at Ball Arena that July.
Barber then appeared poised to return to the octagon last summer against Erin Blanchfield, but suffered what Barber as a “pseudo-seizure” as she was warming up for the fight. Once again, doctors were unable to diagnose exactly what happened that led to the medical emergency, though Barber believes the ’24 and ’25 incidents were related.
The 27-year-old finally returned to action in December 2025 at UFC 323 in Las Vegas, registering a unanimous decision over Karine Silva.
“It’s always challenging when you face those health issues and you’re like, ‘Is (continuing to fight) going to be possible?'” Barber said. “But the UFC got me around the best doctors, the best neurologists. They didn’t figure out exactly what it was (that caused both episodes), but they figured out a solution.
“The only thing that we did figure out is that it’s not bothering me right now, and I’m able to train. I’m healthy and I’m able to perform. And so that’s what’s most important, is that I’m able to do what I love to do.”
Should Barber beat Grasso, she might have to wait — or possibly fight and win again — to get her shot at the belt. Ahead of the UFC 324 bout between Namajunas and Natalia Silva, both women said the UFC told them the fight , with the winner getting the next crack at Shevchenko. Silva beat Namajunas via unanimous decision and is now 8-0 in the UFC.
