Bryan Barberena’s upset win over Sage Northcutt has netted him a big step up in competition against Brazil’s Warlley Alves at UFC 198 in May.
Bryan Barberena seized his short-notice opportunity against the highly touted Sage Northcutt at UFC on FOX 18, submitting the then-undefeated 19-year-old with an arm-triangle choke in the 2nd round of their main card contest. “Bam Bam” was the night’s biggest betting underdog but he came away with the biggest win of his career. On Tuesday, UFC Brazil’s Instagram account confirmed that Barberena will travel to Brazil to face undefeated prospect Warlley Alves on May 14th.
Barberena (11-3) debuted as a lightweight, stopping Joe Ellenberger via 3rd round TKO in December 2014. He went on to lose a unanimous decision to TUF Nations lightweight winner Chad Laprise at UFC 186, but he did pick up FOTN honors. Prior to the call-up to face Northcutt, the 26-year-old MMA Lab product was scheduled to face Jonavin Webb on this weekend’s UFC Fight Night in Pittsburgh.
Alves is a perfect 10-0 with 4 of his victories coming inside the Octagon, including a guillotine choke vs. Marcio Alexandre Jr. to win TUF Brazil 3’s welterweight tournament. After a controversial win over Alan Jouban, the Brazilian scored a pair of guillotine stoppages vs. Nordine Taleb and Colby Covington.
UFC 198 isn’t technically called UFC 198 yet, but it is expected to flip from an FS1 Fight Night to a numbered pay-per-view very soon. The planned main event is a heavyweight title fight between Fabricio Werdum and Stipe Miocic, with middleweights Vitor Belfort and Ronaldo Souza in the co-main.