LAS VEGAS – With three straight wins and his first finish in nearly four years, Bryan Barberena might be ready for the next level.
Barberena (18-8 MMA, 9-6 UFC) took out Robbie Lawler (29-16 MMA, 14-10 UFC) with a second-round TKO on the UFC 276 main card Saturday. Their back-and-forth fight, which saw Barberena turn up the heat late in the middle frame to get the finish, was a Fight of the Night winner.
Barberena said fighting a former champion and longtime fighter like Lawler was a “dream come true” for him, and now he’s ready to move things up a notch on the heels of a March win over Matt Brown and this one over Lawler.
“I want to continue to fight people who want to come fight – who want to bring it,” Barberna said at his post-fight news conference at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. “… I want people who want to come fight, not dance around, not pitter-patter. Let’s come fight. Let’s throw down. Let’s do this.
“There are some names I like. (Santiago) Ponzinibbio is one of them. A rematch with (Vicente) Luque would be awesome. Niko Price. These are guys who come to fight.”
Check out Barberena’s full interview in the video above.