UFC flyweight Maycee Barber is recovering after a nine-day hospital stay due to a suspected serious form of strep throat, a staph infection, and pneumonia, which doctors are still struggling to definitively diagnose.
Maycee Barber, a UFC flyweight, is on the mend. She’s just spent nine days in the hospital. She’s grateful to be alive.
“We put our bodies through a lot,” Barber said. She was hospitalized after her victory over Katlyn Cerminara at UFC 299. “I never imagined I’d be in a hospital for nine days, feeling like death.”
What made Barber so sick? Doctors aren’t sure. They think it might be Streptococcus pyogenes, a severe form of strep throat, and a staph infection. She also had pneumonia and dangerously low blood pressure.
“I was on oxygen, constantly monitored,” she said. “I was poked with different needles. But we don’t know exactly what it was.” From the moment she was admitted, they started her on antibiotics.
“They were trying to figure out what it was while treating me,” she said. “They never really found out. But the antibiotics I’m on now are clearing it up. I hope it stays gone. For a while, I wasn’t sure if I’d make it.”
Three days after UFC 299, the ordeal began. Barber noticed a red spot on her leg. It swelled quickly, causing severe pain. She contacted the UFC Performance Institute staff, who advised her to seek urgent care.
“It progressed rapidly,” she said. “I ended up in the ER. They ran tests but couldn’t figure it out. They were going to send me home that night, even though I had a high fever. The next day, my temperature was even higher.”
She was readmitted to the ER. They ran more tests. “They thought it was sepsis, staph, MRSA, a blood clot. They thought it was Strep A. They weren’t sure.”
By her fourth day in the hospital, Barber’s condition had worsened. She feared it might be fatal.
“I was in bed, and my mom was with me,” she said. “They gave me a painkiller, a narcotic, which lowered my blood pressure too much. Combined with pneumonia and difficulty breathing, I couldn’t breathe at all. I started crying. I told my mom, ‘I don’t think I’m going to make it.'”
Staph infections and MRSA are common in MMA gyms. Fighters grapple and sweat on the mats. Small cuts can lead to severe injuries requiring IV antibiotics.
In Barber’s case, there was no such injury. This added to the mystery. “The antibiotic I was on is for severe skin treatments,” she said. “The doctors didn’t have answers. They had to bring in an infectious disease doctor from another hospital. He started to provide answers.”
Barber’s energy is slowly returning. She played basketball on Tuesday, after taking short walks to test her strength. At the height of her illness, she couldn’t climb stairs without losing her breath.
She’s unsure if her illness affected her fight with Cerminara. “The whole camp was tough,” she said. “I felt off. I should have finished Katlyn. I know I could have. I just didn’t have that little extra bit.”