Matt Brown gets hometown fight against Bryan Barberena at UFC Columbus

Matt Brown will get to compete in his home state for the first time since 2014.

Brown (23-18 MMA, 16-12 UFC) meets Bryan Barberena (16-8 MMA, 7-6 UFC) at a March 26 UFC Fight Night event at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. The event will air on ESPN.

A person with knowledge of the matchup confirmed the booking with MMA Junkie following an initial report by MMA Ideas. The booking has yet to be officially announced by the promotion.

Brown and Barberena originally were scheduled to face off at UFC on ESPN 31 in December, but Brown was forced to withdraw after testing positive for COVID-19. Barberena ended up facing newcomer Darian Weeks, instead, and beat him by unanimous decision.

Brown most recently fought at UFC on ESPN 25 in June and knocked out Dhiego Lima in the second round to earn a Performance of the Night bonus. Brown, whose past three wins have come by knockout, currently is tied at No. 2 for most finishes by strikes in UFC history behind Derrick Lewis, who recently surpassed him when he finished Chris Daukaus in December.

With the addition, the UFC Columbus lineup includes:

• Jan Blachowicz vs. Aleksandar Rakic
• Amanda Ribas vs. Michelle Waterson
• Sara McMann vs. Karol Rosa
• Tucker Lutz vs. Seungwoo Choi
• Askar Askarov vs. Kai Kara-France
• Danaa Batgerel vs. Montel Jackson
• Bryan Barberena vs. Matt Brown