Maycee Barber is hopeful she can fight again this year.
Barber (8-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) tore her ACL during her decision loss to Roxanne Modafferi in January, marking the first loss of her professional career.
Two weeks ago, Barber was able to hit the mats for the first time since undergoing surgery in February and is expected to travel to Las Vegas next week to continue her rehab at the UFC Performance Institute.
“It feels so good to be back,” Barber told MMA Junkie. “I was able to do some (physical therapy), (hit) some mitts, but that was the first time being able to do any sort of wrestling technique. It feels so good to be back. Just even in that environment where you can step on the mat – that was something I was raised doing. So to have that be a break for me, especially with the whole virus and everything – I couldn’t even go to the gym, so it was really nice to be back.
“My left leg is my injured leg and that one has about 25, 30 percent less strength than my right leg, so we’re getting there. It’s still a work in progress. It’s still a bit sore. I wasn’t running for a while, but I just got cleared to start running again so now I’m back to starting to run. So overall, it’s pretty good.”
While Barber plans on being cautious, she’s not ruling out a return by December if rehab continues to go well for her.
“We’re thinking August, September, I should be able to be back fully training and start a camp, so hopefully that’s the goal,” Barber said. “I’d like to fight by the end of the year. But again, with this kind of injury, it’s not one that I want to re-do the whole surgery or rehab or anything.
“So (I’m) trying to be smart and making sure that all the doctors are happy with how it is – mobility, strength, everything before just saying, ‘Yeah, let’s fight,’ because I want to make sure that I’m not going to go through this break again, and I’m not going to go through the whole recovery process again.”
Maycee Barber taking careful approach with recovery, but hopes to return by year's end
