For Maycee Barber at UFC 323, it wasn’t the damage from her opponent that lingered most after the final bell. It was what she believed the referee had ignored. Earlier this year, she collapsed backstage minutes before her scheduled main event with Erin Blanchfield, turning a six-fight win streak into a question mark overnight.

At UFC 323, the flyweight contender finally steadied the ship with a unanimous decision win over Karine Silva. Yet the victory came with an uncomfortable footnote. Midway through the fight, Barber absorbed an illegal upkick while grounded, a moment that visibly staggered her, and referee Mark Smith allowed the fight to continue without a point deduction.

So what happens when survival replaces fairness in the cage? According to Barber, that’s when frustration sets in. Appearing on The Ariel Helwani Show, Barber didn’t hesitate when the topic of inconsistent officiating came up. Reacting to Helwani’s question about repeated warnings instead of penalties, she replied, “I agree completely.”

What bothered her most was the contrast between pre-fight instructions and in-fight enforcement as she explained, “When we were warming up, ah there was so much conversation about like fingers, you know, like how, oh, if your fingers are up versus your fingers are down, like you get a hard warning in the back of like, you know, if you are going to poke someone in the eye, your first warning is in the back.  And, you know, if you accidentally poke someone in the eye, instantly you get a point taken away.”

That standard, she argued, vanished when it mattered more as Maycee Barber drew a clear line between fouls, “But an eye poke is nothing compared to getting illegally kicked in the head, in my opinion, you know, like having someone kick you in the head when you’re a downed opponent, I think that that’s a significantly more uh impactful strike um than getting an eye poke.”

While acknowledging she’s never suffered an eye poke in a fight, she doubled down on intent. That’s where her criticism sharpened. ‘The Future’ believes Silva’s illegal kick achieved exactly that. Instead, Barber says officials reset both fighters on the feet with no penalty, a decision she called “a big mistake on Mark Smith’s end.”

What stung more was expectation. Barber revealed her coach assured her beforehand, “This is a great ref.” Afterward, her opinion flipped.

She said, “That was terrible. I don’t want him reffing my fights. You’re going to let someone upkick me and then tell me that, ‘That was not a hard blow. Stop. Relax.’ What the heck? That was a hard blow. Watching it back, I was definitely wobbled.”

But Maycee Barber’s anger didn’t emerge in a vacuum. Smith’s UFC 323 night already included scrutiny for a rapid stoppage in Brandon Moreno vs. Tatsuro Taira, echoing earlier controversies tied to his officiating. From questionable stoppages to delayed penalties, criticism has followed Smith across multiple events, with fighters and coaches publicly voicing mistrust.

Still, Barber isn’t chasing sympathy. Her performance against Silva mattered. She hadn’t fought since March 2024, and now, she’s already got her eyes set on the future!

Alexa Grasso rematch and title ambitions laid out by Maycee Barber after massive UFC 323 win

Maycee Barber didn’t dance around it when Ariel Helwani asked about her future. “At the top, I mean, there’s only so many of us,” she said. “So, we’ll just have to see who’s available and what makes sense as far as matchup-wise.” That sounded measured, but the ambition underneath was unmistakable.

Pressed on preference, Barber dropped the caution. “I want the belt, so you know what I want, and whoever’s in the way is going to get taken out.” No callouts. No politics. Just direction.

When Helwani asked again, she clarified the path that’s been on her mind for years as she said, “I don’t have a preference other than I want to take out whoever’s in the way of getting the belt. And also, you guys have already known I’ve been calling for my rematch for a while against Alexa Grasso. So, would love to take that one out. And then, I mean, if not, then I just want a title shot.”

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That rematch matters. Alexa Grasso handed Barber a loss earlier in her career in 2021, and stylistically, it’s always been unfinished business. But timing complicates things. Grasso was slated to face Rose Namajunas at UFC 324 in January before pulling out due to injury, reopening questions at the top of the division.

Above all of it sits Valentina Shevchenko, fresh off a unanimous decision win over Zhang Weili at UFC 322. The belt hasn’t moved far, but challengers are stacking up, and Barber knows patience only works if it’s productive.

As such, the referee controversy may fade from headlines, but the stakes won’t. For Maycee Barber, UFC 323 wasn’t just about getting her hand raised. It was a reminder that if she’s going to chase gold, she may have to overcome more than just the woman standing across from her!