The frightening moment UFCs Maycee Barber gets…
Top UFC contender Maycee Barber was on the receiving end of one of the most alarming finishes in current reminiscence.
A packed home at Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena held their breath after the top 5 girls’s flyweight acquired knocked out — and subsequently choked out — by former division champion Alexa Grasso in the co-main event of Saturday’s UFC Fight Night card.
Grasso, 32, landed a vicious left hand in the opening spherical that appeared to knock her opponent out cold, whipping Barber around as her legs turned to jelly.
Maycee Barber (l.) gets knocked out by Alexa Grasso (r.) during their UFC girls’s flyweight bout on March 28, 2026. Getty Images
Maycee Barber gets choked out by Alexa Grasso during their UFC girls’s flyweight bout on March 28, 2026. Zuffa LLC
She immediately pounced on Barber’s back and cinched a rear-naked choke as referee Mike Beltran jumped in to stop the competition.
A very disoriented Barber, 27, grasped for Beltran’s leg before laying flat on her back, where she remained immobile — seemingly unconscious with her eyes huge open — for a number of minutes in an unnerving scene.
In a respectful gesture, Grasso paused her celebration to wait by her opponent’s aspect as she was handled by medics and ultimately helped to her ft.
Maycee Barber lays on the mat after dropping to Alexa Grasso on March 28, 2026. Zuffa LLC
Alexa Grasso muted her celebration to wait by Maycee Barber’s aspect after her win on March 28, 2026. Zuffa LLC
Barber was taken to the hospital after the bout, where she appeared in good health and strong spirits, as she reposted an encouraging message from her boyfriend on her Instagram story.
“Part of the game,” read the post, which included a picture of Barber recovering from a hospital mattress. “Congrats to Alexa, we got caught but are okay. Will be back soon thanks for checking in.”
The loss snapped Barber’s seven-fight successful streak relationship back to 2021 — following a unanimous determination loss to Grasso.
Grasso, meanwhile, picked up her first win since changing into the first Mexican-born feminine champion in UFC historical past with an epic upset of Valentina Shevchenko in 2023.
She later fought to a draw with Shevchenko in their championship rematch then acquired outmatched in the trilogy bout, and she entered Saturday’s contest after dropping a unanimous determination to current No. 1 contender Natalia Silva.
“I’m back. Alexa without injuries is different. I’m so happy,” Grasso said after the battle, which was formally scored a knockout.
As for the end, Grasso said, “of course my striking is always the first weapon, but I was training hard to get a finish by submission because I trained jiu-jitsu a lot. I wanted the finish.”
The girls’s flyweight bout preceded Saturday’s high-profile main event, where surging middleweight contender Joe Pyfer notched a TKO victory over former long-reigning champion Israel Adesanya.
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