On Tuesday night’s edition of the “UFC Tonight” show on FUEL TV, UFC president Dana White was asked if heavyweight fighter Josh Barnett will be coming to the UFC. His response is below:
“We’re talking to Josh Barnett. Yes, we’re open to bringing him into UFC. It’s about making a deal now.”
In the past Mr White has sounded unsure about Barnett’s crossover from Strikeforce, but now it seems negotiations are taking place for the 38-fight veteran to enter the octagon once again.
Barnett has not competed for the organization since 2002 at UFC 36, where he actually won the UFC heavyweight championship against Randy Couture. However, Josh was later stripped of the title after testing positive for banned substances following the fight.
Many years have passed since then and Barnett has competed for numerous promotions such as Pancrase, where he won the open weight championship, Pride, Sengoku, Affliction, Dream, Impact FC and most recently Strikeforce.
I am sure many fans would love to see the 35-year-old compete in the UFC. I would personally like to see how far Barnett can take it, he definitely has the skill set to challenge anyone in the division and he is a very dangerous all-rounder.
Barnett last fought at “Strikeforce: Marquardt vs. Saffiedine” earlier this month, where he scored a first round submission victory over Nandor Guelmino. With the past behind them, lets hope that the UFC and Josh Barnett can look ahead to the future and work out a deal.
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