Maycee Barber issues statement on vicious knockout loss to Alexa Grasso at UFC Seattle: 'I will be back'

Barber doesn't 'remember a whole lot' but vows to return to the Octagon

Maycee Barber was on the receiving end of a vicious knockout from Alexa Grasso at UFC Seattle on Saturday night. 

Late in the first round, Grasso tagged her with a left hand that sent her to the mat before landing another strike and putting her in a rear-naked chokehold as the referee rushed in to stop the fight. 

COUNTER LEFT LANDS PERFECTLY 🤯@AlexaGrasso wins in round 1 with a perfect shot & RNC! [ #UFCSeattle | LIVE on @ParamountPlus ] pic.twitter.com/e2F5yBN4oP

— UFC (@ufc) March 29, 2026

Barber then laid motionless on the canvas for several seconds after the stoppage before eventually sitting up and being taken from the arena to a local hospital. 

Late Sunday night, Barber posted to her Instagram account to issue her first public statement since the scary knockout loss, congratulating Grasso on the win and vowing to return to the Octagon. 

"Well this is not the post or video that I wanted to be making today," Barber said. "But I wanted to come on here and say thank you to the UFC and thank you to Alexa for the opportunity. I wanted to go out there and get my opportunity to get my rematch and dominate and get the win back and unfortunately, it was not my night. I got caught and Alexa did an amazing thing. She is a phenomenal fighter.

"I don't really remember a whole lot. All I know is every time I go on social media I look like I'm dead. And that's not a very fun thing to see, so I've been trying to stay off social media but I also wanted to come on here and at least tell you guys that I am OK. I am very blessed to live the life that I do. 

"As tough as it is, going out there and being able to do that -- what I did last night was still one of the greatest nights of my life," Barber added. "Despite all of that, that's still one of the better nights of my life that I've ever had. I've had some pretty tough days so that was still one of the greatest days of my life, being able to walk out there and being able to do what I've done.

"I will be back. I'm going to heal up and put in the work and get back out there. So, I'm very thankful to everyone who has supported me, everyone who has watched me grow, watched me win, watched me lose, watched me fall and who's going to watch me win again. Thank you guys all for the love and support and I will be back."

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Barber came into Saturday night's fight on a seven-fight winning streak and was hoping to avenge her 2021 loss to Grasso. Instead she suffered the first knockout loss of her career in devastating fashion, but handled it with incredible grace and plans to begin the climb again up the flyweight division once she's fully recovered.