UFC: Bryan Barberena plans to retire his second Ellenberger brother at UFC Lincoln

It’s a small world we live in and so does UFC welterweight Bryan Barberena. Life went kind of a circle as he meets a familiar face at Fight Night 135 in Lincoln this weekend.

The main card features an interesting match up as Barberena (13-5 MMA, 4-3 UFC) takes on hometown hero and UFC veteran Jake ‘The Juggernaut’ Ellenberger (31-14 MMA, 10-10 UFC).

Flashback to Barberena’s UFC debut back in December, 2014 he faced then prospect Ellenberger’s twin brother and corner man, Joe Ellenberger. Barberena caused a huge upset by finishing Joe Ellenberger in the third round vio TKO. Unfortunately, that ended up being the last fight of Joe Ellenberger’s career as he retired from MMA at the age of 29. Barberena has utmost respect for Jake Ellenberger but vows to do the same with him. Jake Ellenberger with 2-8 in his last 10 fights might hang his gloves in front of his hometown.

“[Jake] has helped paved the way for a lot of fighters and he’s been in the UFC for a long time. He’s done great things for this sport, as far as helping us, putting on great fights and stuff like that. But this is his last fight. Like, this is it for him. I’m going to put him away, and then he can go pursue other things other than MMA, and I’m sure he’ll do great in everything else he does. But this is going to be his last one, and it’s my turn to step up.”