Maycee Barber’s father questions if UFC 246 bout was actually a loss

Maycee Barber suffered her first loss last Saturday, on the undercard of UFC 246, giving up a decision to Roxanne Modafferi while also suffering a complete tear of her ACL in the process.

While the injury was unfortunate, Barber’s father Bucky Barber believes that his daughter showed a lot of heart in the fight and, because of her grit and toughness — along with the injury early in the fight — questions whether or not Saturday night’s fight should be considered a loss.

“The work was in, the skill level at its peak her only way of defeat is if bad luck kissed her on the cheek,” Bucky Barber posted via Instagram. “Ten seconds in, a complete ACL tear turned the probable into the unlikely. Though she had her moments and showed more heart than most have ever witnessed, the night night ended with a loss. However was it a loss?

“She was not beaten by a better skill set,” Barber added. “She was beaten by one unfortunate step and turn of events. That is out of her control. The victory we take from this is we now know we have the highest level of heart to match the highest level of skill in the game. I have seen how athletes react when this injury occurs. Very, very few stay standing, let alone fight an MMA fight for 15 minutes and still survive. That is insane.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/B7mQ6I6J6H6/

Barber clearly showed a lot of heart in the fight, but Modafferi delivered one of the finest performances of her career on Saturday night. The overwhelming underdog delivered  with a dominant opening round. Early in the second, Modafferi landed a jab that dropped Barber, which is when the injury became apparent.

Barber’s father believes the injury happened in the first 10 seconds of the fight, which will have his daughter on the sidelines for an estimated nine months.

It is certainly understandable that a father would give his daughter unwavering support. That is what a parent is supposed to do. However, it seems that not enough credit may be given to Modafferi for her great showing against Barber.

Modafferi recently spoke to BJPENN.com about her victory and said that she was beating Barber before the knee injury occurred and, albeit unfortunate for “The Happy Warrior’s” opponent, the fight was going Modafferi’s way.

Regardless of intent in regards to the Instagram post, Barber says his daughter will be back and better than ever.

“She will be back stronger and more dominant than ever and we as a team could not be more proud,” Barber said of his daughter. “The Future is real, do not get confused with one step. The worst of luck smiles at us all! All we can do is smile back. She will see you all very soon. That which does not kill us makes us stronger. The Future, Version 2.0 to be feared.”

Do you feel like Roxanne Modafferi deserves more credit for her win over Maycee Barber at UFC 246?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 1/22/2020.