For a fighter on a seven-fight win streak, you’d expect the conversation around Maycee Barber to be simple and revolve around title contention, rankings, and what comes next. But that hasn’t quite been the case. Instead, there’s always been a second layer around ‘The Future’. Over the years, her name has popped up in headlines for reasons that had little to do with scorecards, whether it was bold callouts or unexpected controversies.

Now, as she heads into a crucial rematch with Alexa Grasso at UFC Seattle, that curiosity is back again. Who is she dating? And what really happened with that Austin Vanderford situation that fans still bring up years later?

Who is Maycee Barber dating?

Maycee Barber’s relationship status was long unknown, since the American fighter kept her personal life separate from her public career. However, she is now confirmed to be dating fellow boxer Oscar Herrera, and the two have gradually begun to share details about their relationship on social media.

Their posts are low-key but meaningful, and fans have taken note. Most recently, on Barber’s 27th birthday, May 18, she shared a touching statement devoted to Herrera alongside a photo of them together.

“27 & Blessed 🤍 Thankful for so many things but the biggest one is the life that God gave me and the people he has filled it with,” she wrote. “I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Thank you my love (Oscar Herrera) for walking into this next year of life with me. I love you FOREVER.”

The message confirmed what fans had started to suspect: Barber is no longer single and is in a committed relationship with Herrera. Barber and Herrera, unlike many fighters who make major announcements about their relationships, have taken a more gradual and natural approach.

Occasional photographs, supportive captions, and training snapshots have shown their relationship without taking over Maycee Barber’s otherwise career-focused social media presence. However, earlier in her career, Barber found herself in a situation that sparked a very different kind of attention.

What happened between Maycee Barber and Austin Vanderford?

Maycee Barber was involved in a feud with fan-favorite former UFC women’s flyweight Paige VanZant several years ago, a rivalry that intensified after the then-undefeated Barber began calling out VanZant back in 2019. Barber stated she wanted to fight VanZant because of her fame and viewed it as “easy money.”

The situation took an unexpected turn when VanZant revealed that Barber had tried to contact her husband, Austin Vanderford, on social media in an effort to get under her skin and provoke her into accepting the fight.

This, however, actually backfired as VanZant decided to take the high road and didn’t even respond to Barber. She later revealed that she was going to take the fight initially, but decided not to after Barber contacted her husband, as she found it incredibly disrespectful.

“Being a disrespectful person shouldn’t be valued,” VanZant said at the time. “And I definitely won’t give her the time of day. I’m not going to take the bait… Messaging my husband on Instagram is trying to agitate me.”

She later stated that she was going to accept the fight but pulled out due to what she saw as an inappropriate message. Aside from this one-time occurrence, Barber’s personal life has been relatively quiet for years.