Bryan Barberena barely made it home to Glendale before the MMA world tossed an asterisk onto his breakout win over Sage Northcutt.
Barberena submitted the 19-year-old Northcutt with an arm-triangle choke at UFC on FOX 18, defying the odds and smashing the hype that surrounded the previously unbeaten teenager, even despite accepting the fight on eight days' notice. The win was a massive one for Barberena, one that cemented him as a name to watch in UFC welterweight division in front of millions of viewers on FOX. But those good vibes only lasted a few days before the narrative drifted back toward his foe.