Macy Barber is still feeling the effects of the incident that landed her in a lengthy hospital stay more than two months ago.
The UFC flyweight contender explained in a lengthy Instagram post Friday night how the trip is still bothering her and has caused new issues – issues that caused her to pull out of her UFC Denver main event against Rose Namajunas in July.
This is the last post I wanted to write for July. I wanted to post one with just 2 weeks until my first main event. God must have a different plan for the future. Unfortunately, as you all know, I was in the hospital for many days after my last fight. Less than 2 months later, I was in the hospital for 9 days. The doctors at the time didn't know exactly what was going on and I also developed pneumonia during that time. I was given multiple rounds of oral and IV antibiotics and it made me completely sick. When I took this fight, I was told I would be OK by the time July rolled around and after a few weeks I gradually returned to training and camp, but as I got deeper into camp I just couldn't find the intensity I needed to be ready for a 5 round fight, let alone the first 5 minutes of practice. I was dying to go out and perform in front of my home, family and friends, especially against a high level opponent like Rose. I tried to keep pushing but my team knew that not only was I nowhere near safe to fight, but I was also struggling to make it through one training session without risking lifelong damage. I needed to find answers as to why my body was working against me. I sought out a team of medical professionals and worked with UFC to perform extensive testing of my blood, urine, sinus microbiome, gut and hormones. We discovered that there were many areas of my body that were physically not functioning properly, exacerbated by the Epstein-Barr Virus infection I discovered. This is causing body aches, headaches, extreme fatigue and an inability to recover between training sessions. I continue to push through the fatigue, but every time I do, I experience symptoms consistent with these test results.
“The more I looked into my physiology and immune system, the more it became clear that not only had the multiple courses of antibiotics I was given after being hospitalized devastated my immune system, but that, combined with the constant training, had essentially left me feeling sick all the time and completely exhausted all the time. After being informed of the life-changing risks, including a ruptured spleen, I was devastated. Together with my coaches, doctors and UFC, we made the decision that I needed to start taking care of my physical health now so I could compete in the future.
Tracy Cortez replaced Barber in the bout against Namajunas.
UFC Denver takes place on July 13 at Ball Arena in Colorado.
