UFC officials have announced that new former UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett will take on former UFC heavyweight champ Frank Mir in his return to the octagon at UFC 164.
The event will take place on August 31 at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.
#UFC164 gets a heavyweight clash of entertainers – @TheFrankMir vs @JoshLBarnett! Tix now on pre-sale http://t.co/I1aCkbdDX5 #HD110 #MKE
— UFC (@ufc) May 30, 2013
Barnett (32-6) is coming off a submission win over Nandor Guelmino in the final Strikeforce event that took place in January. Barnett became the UFC heavyweight champion after defeating Randy Couture in 2002, but was stripped of the title after testing positive for banned substances after the fight. He went on to compete in PRIDE, Sengoku, and DREAM in Japan before return to America to fight in the Strikeforce promotion.
Mir (16-7) is coming off a unanimous decision loss against Daniel Cormier at the UFC on FOX 7 event in April. Mir has suffered back-to-back losses with the other loss coming against then champion Junior dos Santos.
Stay tuned to ProMMAnow.com for more UFC 164 news and coverage.