Maycee Barber looked sharp in her return to the Octagon at UFC 323, defeating Karina Silva by unanimous decision after 21 months away. The flyweight contender has now revealed her unconventional approach to conquering ring rust—and it starts with eliminating negativity entirely.
Speaking with MMA Fighting following her victory, Barber explained that she expected to perform well despite the extended layoff. Her confidence stemmed from a rigorous training philosophy that never allows for true time off.
When I am out, whether I'm injured or not, like I'm either training mentally or I'm training physically. This is my life. And this is a career that I chose that we don't have an on season, off season. We have, this is an everyday thing," Barber explained.
Rather than worrying about ring rust showing up on fight night, Barber believes it appears in camp—where it can be corrected.
I think that if I was going to have ring rust, it probably would have been in sparring and it probably would have been in training. There were some sparring rounds that I had that I was like, 'Oh yeah, my timing is off.' But that's what camp is for," she said.
Barber credited her coach, Ghee, for his meticulous attention to detail in correcting any issues that emerged during preparation.
My coach Ghee, he's like on top of things. If something's off, we're going to fix it. If my jab timing is off, he's going to go through and dial it in. We did plenty of training to make sure that everything was at the right time and we peaked at the right time," she explained.
Perhaps most notably, Barber takes an aggressive approach to protecting her mental space. She actively removes anyone who introduces doubt or negativity into her preparation.
I never even let the whole ring rust entry even into my head. If someone tries to bring in negative energy, I'm just like, they're gone. I just don't even let that stuff enter my head. Bad energy is not necessary. It's not for me," Barber stated.
When asked about sparring intensity, Barber laughed and offered a glimpse into her killer instinct: "Not me. I try to kill them all and they all know it."
The approach clearly paid dividends as Barber looked like she hadn't missed a beat against Silva, earning a decisive victory to restart her championship campaign.