Ryan Garcia has tense final staredown with Mario Barrios, vows to โlight lightningโ
MMA Fighting
February 21, 2026
Ryan Garcia and Mario Barrios
Ryan Garcia is planning to put on a show tomorrow.
On Saturday evening, Garcia challenges WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios when the two square off at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Both men are in rough patches in their careers, with Garcia coming in off a loss to Rolando Romero for the WBA welterweight title in May, while Barrios has retained his title in back-to-back draws in his previous two bouts.
The lead-up to their fight on Saturday has been mostly respectful between the two, and remained that way during the ceremonial weigh-ins on Friday night, though the two did have a prolonged final faceoff.
๐ช๐๐ ๐๐ก๐ ๐ฅ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ก๐๐ข๐ฅ ๐ช๐๐๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ช๐๐๐๐๐ง ๐ง๐๐ง๐๐๐ฆ ๐ข๐ก ๐ง๐๐ ๐๐๐ก๐ ๐
Mario Barrios ๐ Ryan Garcia
๐๏ธ Buy BARRIOS VS GARCIA HERE โ> https://t.co/FoiaUucafv#TheRingHighStakes | Feb 21 | Live Exclusively on DAZN | @RingMagazine โช๏ธ pic.twitter.com/WyJ0U7CC1K
โ DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) February 21, 2026
Following the faceoff, both men gave their final thoughts on the fight, with Garcia promising a much more exciting performance on Saturday than he gave against Romero last year.
โYouโre going to see a ferocious Ryan Garcia in the ring,โ Garcia said. โWeโre not here to play games. From that start of the bell, weโll be ready to fight. โฆ Weโre going to be ferocious when it comes to that ring, and weโre getting right to it. โฆ
โIโm coming to light lightning, baby. You donโt want to miss this one, I promise you. This is going to be a Ryan Garcia classic. You donโt want to miss this one, I promise.โ
Barrios was less animated than Garcia, but no less confident, praising the challengerโs skills while maintaining he may have a surprise in store for โKingโ Ryan on Saturday.
โBoth of his hands are dangerous,โ Barrios said. โHe definitely has an equalizer with that hook. But like I said, everything we worked on. I also have a hook, Iโve got two hands, and I think that thereโs a lot that he has to look out for. โฆ
โIโm going in there with bad intentions. Going in there, like I said, with all the work we put in. I think this fight could definitely end early.โ
Garcia vs. Barrios takes place this Saturday night, with prelims starting at 6 p.m. ET and available on MMA Fighting, while the main card kicks off at 8 p.m. on DAZN.
Verticals
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Originally published on MMA Fighting on 2/21/2026