Maycee Barber is on the road to recovery after suffering a brutal knockout loss to Alexa Grasso in the UFC Seattle co-main event on Saturday.

The end of the fight came after Grasso blasted Barber with a vicious left hand during a striking exchange that sent the top-10 ranked flyweight down to the canvas. A split second later, Grasso connected with another punch before latching onto a rear-naked choke submission but the fight was already over as referee Mike Beltran rushed in to stop the contest.

Afterwards, Barber remained motionless on the ground for several moments before she eventually sat up again and left the arena to receive medical treatment for her injuries. Late Sunday night, Barber released a statement on Instagram addressing her loss and scary way her fight ended.

“Well this is not the post or video that I wanted to be making today,” Barber said. “But I wanted to come on here and say thank you to the UFC and thank you to Alexa for the opportunity. I wanted to go out there and get my opportunity to get my rematch and dominate and get the win back and unfortunately, it was not my night. I got caught and Alexa did an amazing thing. She’s a phenomenal fighter.

“I don’t really remember a whole lot. All I know is every time I go on social media I look like I’m dead and that’s not a very fun thing to see. So I’ve been trying to stay off social media but I also wanted to come on here and tell you guys that I am OK.”

Immediately after the event, Grasso’s boyfriend Oscar Herrera posted on social media from the hospital that she was “OK” and the loss was just “part of the game.”

Barber said much the same in her statement as she kept her head high about having the opportunity to perform in the UFC regardless of the result.

While she obviously went out there to win, Barber promises that she’s still proud that she was able to compete against somebody like Grasso and this isn’t the end of her journey.

“I am very blessed to live the life that I do,” Barber said. “As tough as it is, going out there and being able to do what I did last night was still one of the greatest nights of my life. Despite all of that, that’s still one of the better nights of my life that I’ve ever had. I’ve had some pretty tough days so that was still one of the greatest days of my life. Being able to walk out there and being able to do what I’ve done.

“I will be back. I’m going to heal up and put in the work and get back out there. I’m very thankful to everyone who has supported me, everyone who has watched me grow, watched me win, watched me lose, watched me fall and who’s going to watch me win again. Thank you guys all for the love and support and I will be back.”

See Barber’s full video statement below:

The loss ended Barber’s seven fight win streak as she was nearing title contention in the flyweight division. The fight also served as Barber’s second bout back in action after she sat out for over a year due to a series of medical issues that kept her sidelined.

Barber picked up a win over Karine Silva this past December in her first fight back after she was originally scheduled to compete seven months earlier in matchup against Erin Blanchfield. But just before she was set to walk to the octagon, Barber suffered a medical emergency that forced her out of the fight and back into the hospital searching for answers.

She eventually got the treatment she needed, which allowed Barber to resume her career. Now she’ll look to bounce back from just her third professional loss after signing with the UFC back in 2018.