It was a solid effort to snap a two-fight slide and get Nelson moving in the right direction again, but Barberena expects him to be even better when they step into the Octagon together on Saturday evening.
“Being familiar with coming off layoffs, I thought he looked good; he did what he needed to do to win. I think he played it more on the safe side, reserved, and now that he’s got his feet wet, I think he’s going to coming out more ready to fire, but it’s hard to tell with him. I’ve followed him for a long time — he’s a great fighter, but he’s extremely quiet and reserved.
“I think he’s going to be better than his last showing,” he added. “I know that, and being matched up with me, I think it plays into what his game plan was already going to be, but I think I’m a completely different fighter than ‘D-Rod’ and he’s going to have to make some adjustments on the fly.”
After the disappointment and frustration of his fight with Dos Anjos last year, Barberena was chomping at the bit to get back into the cage and redeem himself — for the fans, for the UFC, and for himself.
It took constantly volunteering whenever an opening was presented and being persistent in his desire to get back in there quickly, but an opportunity finally presented itself, and now the blue-collar worker has once again packed up his overalls and shipped off to do what he does best — get into a fist fight.
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“People know what to expect when I get in there; I think I’ve solidified that,” he said, proudly. “People know and I think the UFC knows that I’m a guy that is gonna throw down, and that I’m some guaranteed fireworks. I’m going to challenge every person that stands in front of me, and whether I win or lose will be decided in there.
“But I think everybody knows that’s who I am and that I want to go in there and have a fire fight, a slugfest; make it something everybody loves to watch and I enjoy doing.”
And once this one is done, he’ll be right on the farm, right back in the gym, and right back to raising his hand for each and every opportunity that comes up because that’s simply who he is.
“I’m looking forward to continuing to put on entertaining shows, and with that comes opportunities,” he said. “When opportunities arise, it’s best to jump on them as fast as you can, that way I can shine and show what I’ve been working on.
“So you can bet that after I spend a little time with the family, I will return very quickly. There is always someone out there that I will fight.”
