Matt Brown gets hometown fight at UFC Columbus against Bryan Barberena

Matt Brown has gotten his wish.

Brown, from Ohio, has been campaigning to fight on UFC Columbus, which is a hometown fight for the veteran, but for the longest time, he was told the card was full. Now, however, according to MMA Ideas, Brown has booked against Bryan Barberena for the March 26 Fight Night card. The two were previously supposed to fight on December 5 but Brown was forced out of the bout due to a positive COVID test.

Matt Brown (23-18) returned to the win column in a big way as he scored a walk-off KO over Dhiego Lima back in June. Prior to that, the 40-year-old, soon to be 41-year-old on January 10, suffered back-to-back losses to Carlos Condit by decision and a TKO loss to Miguel Baeza. In his career, Brown holds notable wins over Diego Sanchez, Stephen Thompson, Douglas Lima, Erick Silva, and Tim Means among countless others.

Bryan Barberena (16-8), like Brown, returned to the win column last time out with a decision win over Darian Weeks, who took the fight on short notice after Brown was forced out of the bout. In his UFC tenure, Barberena has struggled to find consistency as he’s 6-6 in his last 12 and just 7-6 overall inside the Octagon, while he has never won more than two in a row. However, he still holds notable wins over Sage Northcutt, Warlley Alves, Joe Ellenberger, and Jake Ellenberger. Meanwhile, he has lost to some of the best in Leon Edwards, Vicente Luque, Colby Covington, and Randy Brown among others.

With the addition of Matt Brown vs. Bryan Barberena, UFC Columbus is as follows: