Brown and Barberena were supposed to fight at UFC Vegas 44 last year.
Matt Brown returns and gets to fight in front of a hometown crowd for his next appearance.
Brown meets Bryan Barberena at UFC Columbus, which is set to take place on March 26 at the Nationwide Arena in Ohio. Meni Mayer of MMA Ideas on Instagram was first to report the fight. It has since been confirmed by Brown on Twitter.
Brown vs. Barberena was previously scheduled for UFC Vegas 44 in December, but the ‘Immortal’ tested positive for COVID-19 and was forced to withdraw from the event.
Brown recently snapped a two-fight losing streak with a ‘Performance of the Night’ awarded knockout of Dhiego Lima at UFC Vegas 29 this past June. The knockout of Lima saw the 40-year-old earn the most knockout wins (12) and finishes (14) in welterweight division history.
Barberena remained on UFC Vegas 44 and received a short-notice replacement for Brown in Darian Weeks, who he defeated by way of unanimous decision. Prior to that, ‘Bam Bam’ dropped a majority decision to Jason Witt at UFC Vegas 33 and bested Anthony Ivy at UFC Vegas 10.
UFC Columbus features a light heavyweight headliner between former champion Jan Blachowicz and the No. 3 ranked contender Aleksandar Rakic. A flyweight contest with title implications is also on tap as Askar Askarov and Kai Kara-France are expected to meet.