Josh Barnett News

Tom Taylor - October 20, 2020

This Friday, former UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett will battle former KSW champion Marcin Rozalsk. The bout will headline the first event from Genesis, a new bare-knuckle promotion from KSW, a massively successful MMA promotion out of Poland.

Adam Martin - October 1, 2020

Former UFC heavyweight Josh Barnett will return to the ring when he takes on Marcin Rozalski in a bare-knuckle boxing match for KSW Genesis. KSW Genesis is an offshoot of Poland’s famed KSW promotion and on October 23, Barnett steps into the cage when he takes on Rozalski, the former KSW heavyweight champion. The fight will take place with modified bare-knuckle boxing rules as elbows will also be allowed. The bout will mark the bare-knuckle fighting debut for Barnett, who is one of the pioneers of the sport of mixed martial arts and the former UFC heavyweight champion.

Adam Martin - September 1, 2020

MMA heavyweight legend Josh Barnett believes that Brock Lesnar is using mixed martial arts as leverage to re-sign with the WWE. Reports emerged this week that Lesnar is now a free agent after his contract with the WWE expired, and he has already been connected to a return to MMA. The former UFC heavyweight champion Lesnar has already been called out by Jon Jones on social media and Bellator president Scott Coker has admitted he is interested in matching up Lesnar against Fedor Emelianenko. But Barnett isn’t having any of the rumors.

Cole Shelton - February 21, 2020

Josh Barnett’s Bellator debut has been postponed again as he has reportedly failed a drug test. Barnett was expected to make his promotional debut against Ronny Markes at Bellator 241 on March 13 but that will no longer be the case. Fight Oracle on Twitter reported that the former UFC heavyweight has failed a drug test. The news has since been confirmed by several reporters.

Adam Martin - December 21, 2019

Bellator heavyweight contender Josh Barnett has released a statement following his last-minute removal from the main event of Bellator Salute The Troops. Barnett was scheduled to face Ronny Markes in the headlining fight, but about an hour before it was set to take place, Bellator announced the fight was canceled due to an illness to Barnett. Toby Misech vs. Erik Perez ended up taking the headlining spot, with Misech pulling off a stunning upset knockout win.

Tom Taylor - November 6, 2019

Josh Barnett finally has a dance partner for his Bellator debut. The former UFC heavyweight champion will make his debut with the Viacom-owned promotion on Friday, December 20 in Hawaii, in the main event of Bellator’s second annual Salute the Troops event. This card will be part of a weekend double-header featuring two Bellator events.

Adam Martin - September 30, 2019

Josh Barnett is interested in a potential Bellator heavyweight legends tournament, and if it happens he hopes the tournament takes place during one night. Barnett was signed by Bellator earlier this year after the UFC released him following a dispute with USADA. He hasn’t fought in three years, and is rumored to be making his return on the year-end Bellator/RIZIN card, though that’s not official just yet.

Tom Taylor - September 27, 2019

Bellator MMA has recently signed several notable free agents, including former UFC champions Josh Barnett and Cris Cyborg. Speaking to the media ahead of Bellator 228, Bellator president Scott Coker discussed the Bellator debuts of these two stars. He started with Barnett, explaining that he’d like the heavyweight veteran to make his debut in Japan on a card co-promoted with RIZIN.

Drake Riggs - April 1, 2019

“The Warmaster” Josh Barnett holds the record for the youngest heavyweight champion in UFC history. A label he achieved at just 24-years old. Now 41, the Seattle, Washington native isn’t done yet. Barnett revealed today on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show that he had signed with Bellator MMA… As he did so live on the show. Because today is April 1, also known as April Fool’s Day, there was still speculation despite Helwani’s examining of Barnett’s freshly signed contract. Thus prompting a quick follow up tweet from Bellator President Scott Coker that confirmed the signings legitimacy.

Tom Taylor - January 13, 2019

Former UFC heavyweight champ and current Bellator MMA star Frank Mir is venturing into the world of pro wrestling — and he’s doing so as part of an organization helmed by another heavyweight MMA legend in Josh Barnett. The event goes down on April 4, a few days before WrestleMania. Barnett announced this exciting news on Twitter earlier this week.

Drake Riggs - June 26, 2018

Today, a prayer to the MMA Gods is indeed in order. And compared to the previous two…this one feels like it has a good chance at being answered soon. Everybody loves the heavyweight division. Especially their legendary figures like Mirko Cro Cop, Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira, Igor Vovchanchyn, Randy Couture…the list goes on.

Tom Taylor - June 24, 2018

As we already knew, former UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett is leaving the UFC. Citing a distrust with the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), and a difference vision for the remainder of his career than the one the UFC has, he’s ready to take his show back on the road. Josh Barnett explained his choice to cut ties with the UFC in a lengthy and insightful Facebook post.

Drake Riggs - June 20, 2018

After recently having his USADA suspension reprimanded, former UFC heavyweight champ, Josh Barnett is now moving on from the organization. MMAJunkie’s Steven Marrocco is reporting that Barnett has been released from the UFC making him free to explore other options.

Tom Taylor - March 27, 2018

After a prolonged, bureaucratic battle with the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), former UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett has been cleared of all wrong-doing, meaning he’s now allowed to fight again for the first time since his September, 2016 defeat of Andrei Arlovski. Given that the UFC heavyweight division is perpetually starving for top talent, this is fantastic news. So, who should the now 40-year-old Barnett fight in his anticipated return to action? For a fighter of his caliber, there are always plenty of interesting options, but here are three that we find particularly compelling.

Chris Taylor - March 24, 2018

Josh Barnett reacts to beating USADA: “The time I lost though can never be regained.” Former UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett received some great news on Friday when it was announced that he had received a reprimand instead of a suspension from USADA.

Drake Riggs - March 23, 2018

To be blunt, “The Warmaster” Josh Barnett is no stranger to failing drug tests. In his illustrious forty-three fight career, he’s failed a total of three tests and all for PEDs. The second of these failures resulted in his stripping of the UFC heavyweight title back in 2002 which he won by defeating Randy Couture and making him the youngest UFC champion ever(until Jon Jones came along). The third came ten days prior to his highly anticipated showdown with MMA great, Fedor Emelianenko for Affliction. The failed test essentially killed the organization as the card couldn’t be salvaged and was canceled.

Justin Golightly - January 11, 2018

Andrei Arlovski, Roy Nelson, Frank Mir, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Mark Hunt. These are some of the names that Josh Barnett have taken out in his staggering 21 year stay in the world of combat sports. He even beat Randy Couture back at UFC 36 to become the UFC heavyweight champion. While he’s been out of MMA since 2016, he hasn’t been lazy. From television shows, inhabiting the body of a Viking, to pro wrestling inside and outside of the ring, Barnett isn’t lacking things to occupy his battle-sharpened mind. Although, he doesn’t rule out a return to the cage either. “I’m not finished with it. I still have a lot within MMA that I want to do. There’s still a desire in me to go out and fight. I know that it is going to be a much smaller window for me in that there’s so many other things in my life. At the moment, I know the desire is there to compete, but the desire to structure my life around training camps and all that at the moment just isn’t there.”

Justin Golightly - December 8, 2017

In a world where submission only grappling has finally rose to prominence over the last couple of years, there are no shortage of tournaments for players of all ground games to showcase their skills. The Eddie Bravo Invitational, Polaris, and Metamoris are just three organizations that are aiming a spotlight on grapplers, complete with production values and belts to raise above their heads. MMA legend Kazushi Sakuraba is partnering with former UFC heavyweight champion and Josh Barnett to bring a new storm to the atmosphere with their innovative new promotion called Quintet. “Honestly, I enjoy competing. And if I’m having a great time, it’ll be fun for the audience too. In a regular bout, you’ve got one match and it’s over. But we’ve got attrition-style bouts, called ‘kachi-nuki’. If you win, you keep on fighting, maybe winning two or three times. That right there is what will make it fun to watch. It’ll be a heck of a challenge, but that much more exciting.” — Kazushi Sakuraba