Check out 'slow starter' Bryan Barberena's fast start – and stunning TKO win

NASHVILLE – Bryan Barberena considers himself a slow starter in his fights. However, that wasn’t the case at UFC Fight Night 108; “Bam Bam” put away Joe Proctor less than four minutes into the opening round.

Barberena (13-4 MMA, 4-2 UFC) scored a first-round TKO win over Proctor (11-5 MMA, 4-4 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC Fight Pass-streamed welterweight bout at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, proving that his tendencies as a fighter are evolving.

“I believe I’m a slow starter,” Barberena told MMAjunkie after his win. “It’s something we’ve always talked about after every fight – getting started faster. And if not physically, (then) mentally being in there and seeing things and having good eyes for what’s coming. Tonight was a good example of that.”

Barberena, who improved to 3-1 since January 2016 when he moved up to the welterweight division, came out of the gates quickly against Proctor. They exchanged heavy strikes and taunted each other while going toe to toe, but just when Proctor waved him in for more, Barberena landed a stunning shot that set up the TKO at the 3:30 mark of Round 1.

“The game plan was just to make him fight my fight,” Barberena said. “I didn’t really have a precise game plan going in – just fight my fight and make him have to adapt to what I’m throwing.”

The MMA Lab product has put in some solid work of late and has suffered only one loss in the past two years. Colby Covington defeated Barberena by unanimous decision at UFC on FOX 22 in December, but Barberena said he doesn’t see it as a particularly damaging loss.

Covington is currently scheduled to fight perennial 170-pound contender Dong Hyun Kim at UFC Fight Night 111 in June. Barberena said the fact he went three rounds with “Chaos” proves that he belongs in the same echelon in the weight class, and he said he’d like a fight against a ranked opponent to prove his worth.

“(My next fight should be against) anybody toward the top,” Barberena said. “I feel like my last loss was against a top guy. Colby’s probably going to fight some top-10, top-15 guy. I don’t think that loss set me back too far. We’ll definitely get right back in the mix and fight a top-15 guy.”

Check out the full chat above.

And for complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 108, check out the UFC Events section of the site.