The younger brother of one of the UFC’s best women’s prospects is on his way to Bellator.
Wyatt Barber (0-0 MMA, 0-0 BMMA), the 18-year-old brother of 21-year-old UFC women’s flyweight Maycee Barber, has signed with Bellator. A promotion official confirmed the news to MMA Junkie on Friday following an initial report from ESPN.com.
Wyatt Barber, a featherweight, will turn 19 in May. No first Bellator opponent has been announced for him, nor has been a timeline for his pro debut. He made his amateur debut this past June at LFA 70 and picked up a TKO win over Julian Valencia in Madison, Wis.
Barber and his sister train at the esteemed Roufusport MMA Academy in Milwaukee under head coach Duke Roufus. Their training partners there include former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis and his brother, recently signed Bellator fighter Sergio Pettis, as well as the likes of Belal Muhammad, Emmanuel Sanchez and Jordan Griffin.
If Barber gets into the Bellator cage this year, he’ll probably do it ahead of his sister’s return to the UFC. At UFC 246 earlier this month in Las Vegas, Maycee Barber was a heavy 10-1 favorite against Roxanne Modafferi to close out the prelims in Las Vegas. But Modafferi dominated the fight and won a lopsided unanimous decision.
Barber tore an ACL during the fight and is likely to be sidelined perhaps for the rest of the calendar year. She was unbeaten heading into the fight against Modafferi and had seven of her first eight pro wins by stoppage, including TKOs in her first three UFC fights.
