UFC 246: Maycee Barber's injury status revealed; far worse than expected

Maycee Barber is arguably the biggest female prospect on the UFC roster. Before her fight against Roxanne Modafferi at UFC 246, she was undefeated with a record of 8-0 - being just 21 years of age.

Many have recognized her potential, with Dana White labeling her as a future Champion. She was given a big step-up in competition at UFC 246 - headlining the prelim card against the 37-year old veteran Roxanne Modafferi. The 16-year age gap and experience played a factor in all of it - but the biggest story was how Barber busted her ACL during the fight.

The physician examined it and determined it to be a "partial ACL tear" and allowed her to continue, but according to her father Bucky Barber - it's far more serious than that. He told ESPN that Barber suffered a complete ACL tear in her left knee:

"We think she injured it in the first 10 seconds," Bucky Barber told ESPN. "She stepped on Roxanne's foot as she backed up and felt a pop. You can see the knee give out on the side. She went back and started fighting and trying to do things and I noticed she was flat in a way I've never seen before."

It's a bit surprising how it all went down and Dana White rightfully pointed out that it's hard to predict when someone is going to blow their knee out. The ACL tear visibly made Barber far more limited and didn't allow the fight to play out the way she would have wanted - leading to Modafferi getting a clear decision victory from the judges.

ESPN mentioned in their report that she's expected to be out for 9 months. This will certainly hinder her plans to become a Champion by 2020 but Barber still has a shot at becoming the youngest Champion in UFC history - a record currently held by Jon Jones (he became a Champion at the age of 23).

Catch the hottest UFC action on SONY TEN 2 and SONY TEN 3 in India