Robbie Lawler and Bryan Barberena have been elevated to the main stage at UFC 276.
The welterweight bout, which was originally slated for the main portion of the preliminary card on ABC, will now serve as the first bout on the pay-per-view draw. UFC president Dana White announced the update to the lineup in an interview with Yahoo Sports. The card required some shuffling after a flyweight clash between Miesha Tate and Lauren Murphy that was originally slated for UFC 276 was postponed for two weeks to UFC on ABC 3 due to COVID-19 protocols.
“What better fight … I mean, other than [Sean] O’Malley versus [Pedro] Munhoz, how could you open the pay-per-view any better?” White said.
“They are both built and wired exactly the same. They are both war dogs who come forward, take big shots, and try to take your head off. It should be an incredible fight.”
Lawler snapped a four-bout skid in his last outing when he defeated Nick Diaz via third-round TKO at UFC 266 this past September. Prior to that, the former welterweight champ had dropped consecutive fights against Neil Magny, Colby Covington, Ben Askren and Rafael dos Anjos.
Barberena, meanwhile, has won three of his last four in the Octagon and is coming off a split-decision triumph against Matt Brown at UFC on ESPN 33 on March 26. Barberena recently signed a new contract with the Las Vegas-based promotion after openly stating that he’d consider retirement if he wasn’t re-signed by the UFC.
UFC 276 takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday and is headlined by a middleweight championship clash between Israel Adesanya and Jared Cannonier, while Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway square off in a featherweight title trilogy in the co-main event. The pay-per-view card is availabile via ESPN+ and begins at 10:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. PT.
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