“I came back to Florida on the Tuesday after the fight, and on Wednesday morning, my manager called me and said, ‘I have more good news. First of all, they’re gonna give you a new contract, but they asked me how soon you’re able to fight?’”
With the promotion set to return to Abu Dhabi, they were looking for an opponent for Shara Magomedov, the popular Muay Thai stylist whose five-fight UFC career has thus far all taken place in the MENA region.
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Coming off a loss to Michael “Venom” Page earlier this year in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, they set their sights on the always game Barriault as the man for the job, and after thinking about how the two could potentially match up inside the Octagon, “Powerbar” accepted the challenge and hustled right back into another training camp.
“I started thinking about it, and my style and his style can be a good matchup together,” Barriault said, breaking down his process for agreeing to face Magomedov this weekend. “After the fight with Bruno, I gained a lot of confidence, so I said, ‘Just keep rolling. They gave you a raise, a new contract; they have full belief in you, so just go in, do your thing.’