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Strikeforce signs Josh Barnett
By Zach Arnold | September 13, 2010
Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: MMA HEAVYWEIGHT SUPERSTAR JOSH BARNETT SIGNS WITH STRIKEFORCE
NEW YORK (Sept. 13, 2010) – Two-time champion and top world-ranked heavyweight superstar Josh “The Babyfaced Assassin” Barnett has signed a multi-fight agreement to compete for world championship Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) promotion STRIKEFORCE.
“STRIKEFORCE is the home of the best heavyweight division in the world and I’m proud to be able to call it my home now,” said the 32-year-old Barnett (29-5), an expert in catch wrestling who hails from Seattle, Wash.
“I’m looking forward to competing amongst the greatest fighters in the world and fighting my way to another world title.”
The 6-foot-3, 255-pound Barnett became the youngest UFC champion in history at age 24 when he scored a second-round TKO (4:35) on MMA legend Randy “The Natural” Couture in Las Vegas, Nev., on March 22, 2002. In his sixth career fight, Barnett submitted wrestling and MMA legend Dan “The Beast” Severn with an armbar in the fourth round (1:21) in Hawaii.
In addition to his achievements in America, Barnett has spent a good portion of his career competing in top tier promotions overseas, including the now defunct PRIDE Fighting Championships in Japan where he notched memorable victories over the likes of Aleksander Emelianenko, Mark Hunt and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. On Oct. 21, 2006, Barnett took part in PRIDE’s first event on U.S. soil, submitting Pawel Nastula with a toe hold in the second round (3:04) at Las Vegas’s Thomas & Mack Center.
In 2008, Barnett competed in another Japanese promotion, Sengoku. After submitting (heel hook) Hidehiko Yoshida in Tokyo on March 5, 2008, Barnett returned to action on May 18, 2008, and earned a unanimous decision over top-ranked rival and fellow American Jeff “The Snowman” Monson.
Barnett signed an agreement to compete in Japan’s DREAM promotion earlier this year. Last March 22, he made his debut with the organization, submitting former K-1 tournament champion and devastating power puncher, “Mighty Mo” Siligia, with a kimura at 4:41 of the first round.
On July 10, Barnett followed up the strong showing with a first-round TKO (punches) over Geronimo dos Santos in the main event of a fight card in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
About STRIKEFORCE
STRIKEFORCE (www.strikeforce.com) is a world-class mixed martial arts cage fight promotion which, on Friday, March 10, 2006, made history with its “Shamrock vs. Gracie” event, the first sanctioned mixed martial arts fight card in California state history. The star-studded extravaganza, which pitted legendary champion Frank Shamrock against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Cesar Gracie at San Jose’s HP Pavilion, played host to a sold-out, record crowd of 18,265. Since 1995, STRIKEFORCE, sanctioned by ISKA, has been the exclusive provider of martial arts programming for ESPN and, after 12 years of success as a leading, world championship kickboxing promotion, the company unveiled its mixed martial arts (MMA) series with “Shamrock vs. Gracie.” In May 2008, West Coast Productions, the parent company of STRIKEFORCE, partnered with Silicon Valley Sports & Entertainment (SVS&E), an entity created in 2000 to oversee all business operation aspects of the San Jose Sharks and HP Pavilion at San Jose. In March 2009, STRIKEFORCE signed a multi-year agreement with SHOWTIME® to stage live events on the premium cable television network. The promotion has since also produced two live, primetime events on the CBS Television Network.
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 31 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Josh Barnett has been busted 3 times for roids. 3 strikes and your out. Strikeforce is showing absolutely no standards what-so-ever by signing this guy. He has no business making a living off of fighting anymore.
Any half respectable athletic commission should not let him fight.
And I’m sure I will get a few responses to my comment, so let me say this as well…. If the UFC signed any fighter who tested positive for steroids 3 times, I would be bashing the decision as well.
As it happens, I agree with you, 45…Barnett shouldn’t be allowed to fight ever again.
On the other hand…asking strikeforce to have standards is like asking water to be dry…it only happens under severely strict laboratory conditions and nobody has ever seen it outside of the lab.
BTW, the captcha for my comment? “juiced” 🙂
Barnett doesn’t have the body of a roider; either way, who cares, a huge % of high-level fighters fighters are on roids or HGH. Barnett is immensely talented and signing him is a coup for Strikeforce. I want to know where the fuck Strikeforce is getting their money for all these high-profile signings; it isn’t like they have a business model that is profitable..
“body of a roider” is something that needs to go away. Look at Barnett and Baby Fedor from teh first fight. There is no “body of a roider.” Steroids make it easier for you to work out, they don’t make you into a muscle covered monster.
“Barnett doesn’t have the body of a roider;…”
Can you also read fortunes with butts?
And while your reading barnetts fortune see if you can spot any residual evidence of his testes.
And what would you read into that alien peanut chin.
Was wondering how long it would take for someone to bring up steroids. 2 comments, 2 mentions.
The accusation of taking steroids is so damaging, yet in an actual MMA fight you more often than not will hear of someone losing a fight (or a series of fights), and THEN testing positive (Baroni, Sylvia, Shamrock, etc.)
And then there are guys who HAVE been on steroids, performance enhancing drugs, etc. but aren’t now (Lesnar, Carwin) so we let it slide?
Everyone takes a PED of some kind – some stronger than others, some are approved, some not. It’s to the point now where the Athletic Commission should back off and just let athletes compete with whatever they’re taking.
The top guys in the sport are GSP, Anderson, Edgar…these guys are likely not ‘juicing’, and if they started, I doubt it would help them in any way.
MMA is about speed, technique, endurance, and of course strength to a degree, but what you add in size you always sacrifice in other areas.
Looking forward to Barnett in Strikeforce. LOTS of interesting fights for him at Heavyweight.
1) “Everyone” does not take PED’s. And when you say some are approved, then they aren’t placed into the discussion of PED’s. PED’s are always talked about referring to illegal drugs taken.
2) If steroids or HGH didn’t matter, then athletes wouldn’t be taking them.
3) Sure, you can say that every athlete should take them. But that has nothing to do with this discussion. The fact is, they are illegal in sports and Barnett got busted for them 3 times. Once in order to win a title. And another he ruined a lot of fighters by taking Affliction off of PPV.
Guys who break the rules like he did have no place in sports. It’s as simple as that.
Liger,
I find it fascinating that you allude that “everyone” is on a PED, only to later imply GSP, Silva, and Edgar are not likely juicers. What makes you think those are not or have never used a PED? Rumors have been following GSP around for almost as long as he has been in the UFC.
“…et in an actual MMA fight you more often than not will hear of someone losing a fight (or a series of fights), and THEN testing positive…”
Maybe that explains barnetts record of beatable shlubs and then getting caught whenever he’s in a legitimate enough fight to be tested.
It is not ok to excuse a fighter who has failed drug tests on three occasions for PED’s just because there is a general consensus that there are a lot of fighters who do not get caught for drug use. Josh Barnett beat a legend with the help of PED’s, and wrecked a whole event the next time he was busted. He deserves all the negative publicity, and scrutiny that comes his way.
“The top guys in the sport are GSP, Anderson, Edgar…these guys are likely not ‘juicing’, and if they started, I doubt it would help them in any way.”
But there is no way to know that at all, and there is a lot more information pointing to the exact opposite of that argument.
“And then there are guys who HAVE been on steroids, performance enhancing drugs, etc. but aren’t now (Lesnar, Carwin) so we let it slide?”
It is generally thought that Brock was on steroids during his Pro wrestling career. He was at least one year out of that business before he entered the UFC. He has never failed a test.
Shane is a different story. He has never failed a test either, but there are receipts for PEDs with his name on it(which is kinda like the old Balco situation).
Again neither of these guys have actually failed for Steroids.
There does need to be more stringent testing if Athletic commisions are going to continue to try to get rid of drugs from MMA. But that has nothing to do with Barnett.
People need to stop trying to muddy the waters of the PED discussion. There are two parts of it.
1) How to improve steroid testing.
2) How to handle proven offenders.
One has nothing to do with the other because you cannot accuse someone of taking steroids without either a receipt (Carwin) or testing positive (Barnett).
The fact is that Barnett tested positive THREE times. That has nothing to do with the PED testing discussion. He is proof that it does work to some extent.
Strikeforce is showing absolutely zero standards in who they are signing. Every legit sports league in America does not let 3 time offenders compete in their leagues. Strikeforce should not get off the hook on this one. They should be burried by reporters for this signing. I know that won’t happen because the MMA Media is useless, but it needs to be done.
I guess you forgot about Steve Howe; how many times was he busted, seven? And MLB kept letting him back in; I suppose it’s not a fair comparison, but still, exceptions are made.
I do tend to wonder about the accuracy of those tests; until state athletic commissions, as well as the fighting organizations get their s–t together, we can argue who did what and when until the end of time.
Despite my feeling that Barnett is still one of the top fighters in MMA, this is not a good move by Strikeforce, unless they know something about Barnett. Maybe he’s finally cleaned up his act; maybe not.
Strikeforce will look good is Barnett wins and stays clean; if not, it’s another big black eye for the promotion. For me, it’s kind of a wait and see deal.
45, the UFC also signed James Toney, who has been busted for steroids, and has taken back a number of fighters who have been busted roiding. The UFC also put Kimbo on the main card of a PPV and paid James Toney 500k even though he had no mma experience. Get off your high horse. They also brought Sean Gannon into the UFC based on beating Kimbo in a street fight. Enough of the double-standard; the UFC is not exactly a pious organization.
And I ripped on the UFC for signing James Toney as well and bashed the Couture/Toney fight. And I’ve said on multiple occassions that if we don’t see another Toney, Kimbo, Lashley, or Walker in the UFC/SF forever, that I would be a much happier fan.
Where is the double standard? I was critical of both the UFC and Strikeforce when they deserved it.
When that happened, did you say you thought the mma media wouldn’t go hard on the UFC? Me thinks not.
There is a major difference between a fighter getting busted for roids and a fighter getting busted for rounds THREE times.
I made the negative comments about Toney when it was announced. Called it a freakshow actually.
can anyone knowledgeable answer or attempt to answer my question about Strikeforce’s money? Is Showtime paying the costs of signing these expensive fighters? I can’t imagine Strikeforce is making much in revenue off their live gates, and I don’t see them making any money in PPV revenue any time soon.
I’ve highly enjoyed the career of Josh Barnett and would hope we’ll finally get a Fedor fight. But:
#1 They mostly run in California and I assumed he’d be blackballed there.
#2 Even if he doesn’t ever fail another drug test he’s still horrible publicity.
#3 I’m sure his asking price is way down, but why would you spend so much money bringing in a guy who has a good chance of never getting cleared anywhere reputable? Do you want to waste that money having to bring him to the Texas joke commission or having a tape delayed dud show from Japan or Russia?
#4 And what good is his name value if you’re not guaranteed he’ll ever make it to his fight?
It’s a shame to say this about a guy so talented and so marketable as a star, but he is way more trouble than he is worth.
It is simultaneously hilarious and sad how the blogosphere’s self-appointed steroid watchdogs play “see no evil, hear no evil” with Barnett.
Toney, by the way, at least showed up for his hearing with the California commission. Barnett keeps ducking his hearings.
But hey … Barnett posts on message boards and appears on internet radio broadcasts, so he gets a free pass.
You are 100% correct in this assessment.
I wish Barnett would just go away.
Considering he ruined a show (and maybe an entire promotion) based on failing a drug test, it seems like a pretty risky move on Strikeforce’s part. I will laugh when/if it blows up in in its face.
I’ve lost all respect for Barnett just due to the fact he won’t admit he took it.
He came out with a load of excuses at the time, saying that he knew why the test came up positive but he’d sort it at his appeal.
Then he delayed his appeal like 4 or 5 times for silly reasons and “decided” he was just going to drop it, since his suspension was over.
You tested positive THREE times. That’s quite substantial evidence. You’re a roider, just admit it.
3 busted tests was bad enough, but this guy killed an entire promotion.
Just shows that SF will take ANYBODY that someone MIGHT have heard of.
He didn’t kill Affliction. Affliction was going out of business after their 3rd show no matter what. They used Barnett as a scapegoat once all of that stuff went down.
Barnett was responsible for a show being cancelled. He was not responsible for the promotion folding.
Still not good, but it’s not as severe….
Yeah, but Affliction never had their third show because of Barnett, so in reality Barnett did HELP kill Affliction.
So are we FINALLY going to get that Fedor/Barnett match? Yeah it is highly corrupt on SF’s part for signing Barnett, but Barnett/Fedor is a match I wanted to see for a long time. Let Fedor knock Barnett into oblivion and let Barnett’s career be done with. Might not happen, but a man can dream, right?
Naw, SF will probably pair Barnett up with Mike Kyle or Abongo Humphrey or someone like that.
I think this signing is not going to be good for Strikeforce but i can see why they did it. It gives Fedor someone he wants to fight besides Werdum so that he can fight for the title. Then the winner of the Fedor Barnett fight gets the winner of the title fight. This will get the last fight from Fedor contract and force him into signing one the SF wants if he wants to fight Werdum.
I’m not gonna demand Barnett be shut out of MMA forever because that’s not realistic. If Strikeforce gives him fighters that are relevant to fight, great. I don’t care about it “damaging their titles/promotion” by taking a guy who’s probably still a top ten heavyweight and giving him relevant fights upon entry when most of their heavyweight competitors aren’t top ten fighters or could use a win against someone with the profile of Barnett (assuming they can beat him, of course).
Maybe if they grab the overhyped bodybuilder and the goofy/egotistical giant chubster people will start to talk about Strikeforce’s heavyweight division as if it matters just a little and that they might have decent opposition for the guys they’ve already had fighting for them for awhile. I’d be pretty happy (personally) if we get Fedor/Barnett for free.
Duffee and Nelson?
I was thinking Sylvia for the second. I like Nelson plenty but I think everyone now recognizes for sure that he’s not anywhere near an elite heavyweight. Not a bad thing. Just who he is.
Dont really care about barnett and his roids.
I already couldn’t dislike him any more for so many other reasons that the roids is just another one of many.
Test him every flucking time, problem fixed.
I’m more concerned about him prancing around declaring himself the best while fighting 185 pound japanese dudes and career underachievers.
And of course the scumbags who will believe it and repeat it on message boards.
If he fights Werdum Werdum will win.
He doesn’t want to fight Werdum.
He’d rather walk over… reem.
Or maybe even Hershel Walker.
RobThom has a point about testing Barnett, but it should apply to all fighters. Each one should be tested independently, before and after a fight.
As I’ve said before, uniform rules/regs. are needed across the MMA landscape, so we can get rid of all the loopholes.
Also as said before: let’s see if Barnett actually does fight in Strikeforce, steers clear of any more failed tests, and wins.
I don’t excuse Barnett’s failures of the tests at all; but unless he wants to spend the rest of his life pretending to be a wrestler in the IGF, he better get his s–t correct.