Pace of play does not figure to be an issue for Matt Brown and Bryan Barberena.
The welterweight action heroes will offer the potential for nonstop violence when they duke it out as part of the UFC on ESPN 33 main card this Saturday at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. Brown has recorded three victories across his past five outings. “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 7 graduate last competed at UFC on ESPN 25, where he delivered a one-punch knockout against Dhiego Lima in the second round of their June 19 pairing. Barberena, meanwhile, has won twice in his last three appearances. He has not fought since he laid claim to a three-round unanimous decision over Darian Weeks at UFC on ESPN 31 in December.
As Brown and Barberena close in on their forthcoming encounter at 170 pounds, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied them to this point:
41: Years of age for Brown, who was born on Jan. 10, 1981 in Jamestown, Ohio.
15: Brown victories by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for 65% of his career total (23). His list of Ultimate Fighting Championship victims: Lima, Ben Saunders, Diego Sanchez, Erick Silva, Mike Pyle, Jordan Mein, Mike Swick, Luis Ramos, Chris Cope, James Wilks, Pete Sell and Matt Arroyo. Brown owns six other victories by submission and two more by decision.
24: Submission attempts for Brown as a UFC welterweight, placing him second on the promotion’s all-time list at 170 pounds. Only Chris Lytle (31) has been credited with more.
29: Seconds needed for Brown to punch out Pyle at UFC Fight Night 26 on Aug. 17, 2013. Having occurred more than eight years ago, it remains the fastest finish of his 41-fight career.
16: Calendar years in which Brown has fought at least once. He went 1-0 in 2005, 4-3 in 2006, 2-3 in 2007, 2-1 in 2008, 2-0 in 2009, 0-3 in 2010, 1-1 in 2011, 4-0 in 2012, 2-0 in 2013, 1-1 in 2014, 1-1 in 2015, 0-3 in 2016, 1-0 in 2017, 1-0 in 2019, 0-1 in 2020 and 1-1 in 2021.
32: Years of age for Barberena, who was born in Montclair, California, on May 3, 1989.
10: Barberena wins by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for 63% of his career total (16). His list of UFC victims: Jake Ellenberger, Joe Proctor and Joe Ellenberger. Barberena holds two other wins by submission and four more by decision.
150,000: Dollars in post-fight bonuses banked by Barberena across his 13 appearances in the UFC. He has been awarded “Fight of the Night” on three different occasions.
6: Organizations in which Barberena has plied his mixed martial arts trade. He has gone 7-6 in the UFC, 4-0 in Dakota Fighting Championships, 3-1 in King of the Cage, 1-0 in The Cage Inc., 1-0 in Crowbar MMA and 0-1 in Cage Fighting Xtreme.
169: Significant strikes landed by Barberena in his third-round technical knockout loss to Vicente Luque at UFC on ESPN 1 in February 2019. It remains a high-water mark for “Bam Bam,” who has connected on at least 100 such strikes in three of his UFC assignments.
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