» Fighter: Josh Barnett

Fighters.com’s eighth-ranked heavyweight “Babyface Assassin” Josh Barnett (20-5) will make his long-awaited return to mixed martial arts at DREAM.13 in Yokohama March 22, DREAM announced Friday.

Read More About DREAM 13: Josh Barnett Confirmed, But Versus Whom?…

Former UFC heavyweight champion “Maine-iac” Tim Sylvia (25-6) declined to fight Fighters.com’s eighth-ranked heavyweight “Babyface Assassin” Josh Barnett (20-5) at DREAM.13 in Yokohama March 22, according to MMA Junkie.

Read More About Former UFC Champion Tim Sylvia Declines Josh Barnett Fight at DREAM, Considers Mariusz Pudzianowski…

Brazilian heavyweight “Cigano” Junior dos Santos (10-1) climbed to the fifth spot in Fighters.com’s December Heavyweight Rankings after knocking out “Hurricane” Gilbert Yvel (33-14-1) at UFC 108 in Las Vegas January second.  He’s now just beneath his sensei, fourth-ranked “Minotauro” Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (32-5-1), and just out of the UFC’s big three champions, one of whom has held a portion of the UFC title for the last two years.

Read More About UFC’s Junior dos Santos is the Future of Heavyweight – Fighters.com’s January Heavyweight Rankings…

The breakdown in negotiations between boxing champions Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, Jr. over Pacquiao’s apparent resistance to submit to an Olympic-style blood test has presented MMA with a golden opportunity to further differentiate itself from the often frustrating sport of boxing.

Read More About MMA Should Require Blood Tests To Fight Steroids Stigma After Pacquiao-Mayweather Negotiations Breakdown…

Both Fighters.com Heavyweight Champion “Last Emperor” Fedor Emelianenko (31-1) and ninth-ranked “Vai Cavalo” Fabricio Werdum (12-4-1) won at M-1 Global/Strikeforce in Chicago November 7 and now the top ten heavyweights seem on a collision course for a matchup versus each other.  But will it be for the Strikeforce title or not?

Read More About Fighters.com November Heavyweight Rankings – M-1 Global/Strikeforce Surge Ahead as UFC Heavyweights Wither…

“Last Emperor” Fedor Emelianenko (30-1) entered his 15th month as Fighters.com Heavyweight Champion in October.  Emelianenko will defend his title versus fifth-ranked “Grim” Brett Rogers (10-0) at Strikeforce west of Chicago and broadcast in the U.S. on CBS November 7.

Read More About Fighters.com October Heavyweight Rankings…

On the walls of MMA fandom there are two contrasting posters of Fighters.com Heavyweight Champion “Last Emperor” Fedor Emelianenko (30-1).

If you’re not North American or you’re one of the 50,000 or so North Americans who plunked down $34.95 for PRIDE 32, your poster depicts Emelianenko within a golden aureole striding a mound of pummeled flesh bags that includes fourth-ranked “Minotauro” Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (32-5-1), tenth-ranked “Pitbull” Andrei Arlovski (14-7), and former UFC heavyweight champion “Maine-iac” Tim Sylvia (24-6).

If you’re North American and cut your MMA teeth on The Ultimate Fighter circa 2007 or anxiously anticipating the first F5 stoppage in MMA history, your poster depicts Emelianenko cowering within the block-headed shadow of the man-mountain that is second-ranked UFC champ Brock Lesnar (4-1).

Read More About MMA Is Strictly Business for Fedor Emelianenko – Fighters.com’s September Heavyweight Rankings…

Fighters.com’s ninth-ranked heavyweight “Babyface Assassin” Josh Barnett (20-5) returned to the open, enabling arms of his adoring Japanese fans Saturday, making an appearance at Pancrase’s Changing Tour 4 in Tokyo.

He stepped inside the ring during an intermission and addressed the crowd: “I’d like to fight next time I enter the Pancrase ring.”

Barnett is the reigning Openweight King of Pancrase, but hasn’t fought for the promotion since tapping Yuki Kondo (49-23-6) in a rear naked choke at the 10th Anniversary Show in 2003.

Read More About Josh Barnett Wants To Return to Pancrase, UFC’s Dana White Doubts He’ll Return to The Octagon…

In an analysis posted Friday, Yahoo!Sports MMA and boxing writer Kevin Iole spouted the UFC line, “If the UFC was in the business of giving 50 percent of its company away every time it tried to sign an elite fighter, it would have been in worse shape a lot sooner than Chrysler.” The article should’ve ended with a full disclusore that Yahoo!Sports and the UFC have a business partnership because Iole’s cozy nest in the UFC tree has affected his usually uncomprimised reporting.

M-1 Global isn’t asking for 50 percent of the UFC in exchange for Fighters.com Heavyweight Champion “Last Emperor” Fedor Emelianenko’s (29-1) viscerally craved debut inside the Octagon.

Fighters.com isn’t sure whether that’s UFC spin strategized to pressure Emelianenko to surrender his co-promotion demand by persuading fans he’s unreasonable or a genuine misunderstanding by White about what Emelianenko is demanding.

Read More About Fighters.com’s August Heavyweight Rankings: UFC Dishonest About Fedor Emelianenko’s Demands…

Ninth-ranked heavyweight “Babyface Assassin” Josh Barnett (20-5) will soldier on after testing positive for 2a-methyl-5a-androstan-3a-ol-17-one, an anabolic steroid, causing the cancellation of Affliction M-1 Global’s Trilogy, possibly returning to his home in The Land of the Rising Sun at Sengoku, Sengoku Director Takahiro Kokuho told Sherdog.

Barnett denies using steroids. The California State Athletic Commission claims two separate samples tested positive.

Kokuho said, “As for Josh Barnett, we still have to continue negotiations with him, but we are planning to have him on our November 7 card. We didn’t have [Barnett] in contract, but we had a conversation with him about his return in November. He will be in Japan next week, so we’ll be speaking with him just before his Inoki Genome Federation appearance.”

Read More About Josh Barnett Return to Sengoku Possible…