Former UFC, Pride and Affliction fighter, Josh Barnett, has found a new home in Japan as the heavyweight stand-out has signed with Dream and will likely make his promotional debut at their March 22 show later this month.
The signing was confirmed by sources close to the situation to MMAWeekly.com late Monday evening, and the promotion is expected to announce Barnett's addition in the coming days.
Since leaving the UFC in 2002, Barnett has fought in several promotions, most prominently with Pride where he went 5-4 for the organization and faced several of the top fighters.
Most notably, Barnett holds wins over fighters such as Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Randy Couture, and last fought for Affliction in January 2009. He was also the #2 ranked Heavyweight in MMAWeekly's World MMA Rankings when he was due to face Fedor.
Set to face No. 1 heavyweight, Fedor Emelianenko in August 2009, Barnett fell under extreme scrutiny following an alleged positive test for a banned substance, was removed from the fight, and Affliction soon after canceled their third pay-per-view event, eventually closing their doors.
Barnett has not competed in MMA since that time, and has had several delays in his hearings with the California State Athletic Commission to deal with the positive test results, and license denial in the state.
It appears that for the time being, Barnett will make his living in MMA back in Japan. While no opponent has been named yet, rumors have circled that several fighters have been approached about a possible fight with Barnett, but as of yet no one has accepted.
Agreed but that will still be possible with the co-promotion. Dream doesnt really have a HW roster to speak of but hopefully they will be able to get some SF HW's
Maybe they can sign Tim Sylvia now and Dream can have the HW Steroid Trifecta.
Barnette vs Overeem without a cup in site? Those two will show up with physique's that would make Lesnar/Carwin look like a girl scouts meet and greet.
Just to be clear, to those who mentioned Tim Sylvia, while Timmy Chonga may well be debuting in Dream on March 22nd, he will not be fighting Josh Barnett.
I'd like to see that matchup, too, personally. But the reality is, Tim needs to get some confidence back before he steps in with someone who's a legit gamer. Despite the steroid use, Barnett's a legit gamer.
The problem with Dream right now is that they don't really have any legit heavyweights for Barnett to fight. Their heavyweight title is vacant and their "superhulk" champion is a middleweight who, lets face it, would be horribly murdered by Barnett if the two ever fought.
All of the good fighters who'd be a test for Barnett who might have ended up in Dream are currently on the Strikeforce brand. Arlovski, Overeem, Werdum and Antonio Silva all make for interesting fights with Barnett, but the chances that he's going to fight any of them in the near future seem pretty slim.
Honestly if you take all the people you mentioned out of the equation the fight I would most like to see is a rematch with Jeff Monson. There first fight was fairly close (I'd give Monson the first and Barnett the second and third.). There is Sergei Kharintov in Dream though which could be a decent fight.
Sergei, I think, can still be something. He looked awful against Monson, no doubt, but he can learn from that (Like, get better wrestling and a better ground game).
He got his ass kicked in his K-1 fight, but he took on a stud, and still made it far.
If he fought Barnett right now, though, he'd get subbed.
Sergei should look into Overeem's "horse meat" diet.
I'd actually say Monson is Barnett's only real notable win since Pride. Rizzo's a shadow of his former self and Yvel's weapons are neutralized by a good grappler withy a half-decent game plan.
Personally, I thought Barnett looked really good. The kick to the groin was unfortunate, but his hands looked great and his head movement looked phenomenal. Mighty Mo is definitely not the toughest kickboxer out there, but he's no joke on the feet. He's not what he used to be, but the guy definitely has hands.
Barnett moved really well on his feet, and I'm always surprised when he works his standup effectively. That said, I expected him to submit Mighty Mo as soon as that fight hit the ground, and that's what he did.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Mixed Martial Arts Forum
1.9M posts
52.9K members
Since 2006
A mixed martial art forum community dedicated to the different arts of MMA. Come talk about UFC results, Bellator matches, The Ultimate Fighter and more!