UFC on FOX 22's Bryan Barberena: Warlley Alves, not Sage Northcutt, was my biggest victory

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Bryan Barberena fights on Saturday’s UFC on FOX 22 preliminary card. Yet a fighter he recently defeated, Sage Northcutt, is in the night’s co-headliner and on the event’s poster.

Sure, it stings a bit, but Barberena is confident his time will come. The Northcutt win put Bryan Barberena on the map, but a recent unanimous-decision victory over Warlley Alves is the one that means the most to him.

Now, Barberena (12-3 MMA, 3-1 UFC) carries the momentum of those two victories into this weekend’s matchup with fellow welterweight Colby Covington (10-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC). The bout airs on FS1 prior to the FOX-televised main card, where Northcutt (8-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) takes on Mickey Gall (3-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) in the co-feature, from Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, Calif.

“That was definitely probably my biggest win to date,” Barberena told MMAjunkie. “People say the Sage one (was), but for me, the Warlley one was bigger. It was a tough fight against a top guy who’s close to the rankings. I think it really cemented my place in the welterweight division, showing this is where I belong and I’m going for the top.

Still, it hasn’t earned him a spot on a main card. Meanwhile, Northcutt, who recently rebounded from the Barberena loss with a decision victory over Enrique Marin, is getting a large portion of the spotlight.

“I mean, it’s a little frustrating just because I beat him or whatever,” Barberena said. “But no matter where I’m at on the card – I’ll be the bottom first fight of the night, in the middle, on the main card, whatever – I’m going to get in there and do my job, and that’s beat somebody up. And pretty soon they won’t be able to deny me the main-event slot. That’s how I look at it.”

And as he works his way up the ranks, he doesn’t mind adopting a few more nicknames along the way.

“I’ve said this before: People gave me the name ‘Prospect Killer’ or whatever,” he said. “I’m the ‘Prospect Killer.’ I’ll be the ‘Contender Killer,’ the ‘Ranked Guy Killer,’ and soon I’ll be the ‘Champion Killer.’ I’ll just keep taking the names. Just line them up.”

Check out the full interview, which includes his thoughts on the Covington matchup, above.

And for more on UFC on FOX 22, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.