Tag: Josh Barnett

Josh Barnett has spoken to CM Punk, Malakai Black about Bloodsport

Josh Barnett also threw out Chad Gable and even Bill Goldberg as possible fits for future Bloodsport cards.

When Shayna Baszler competes in Bloodsport X in Philadelphia during WrestleMania week, it will break a longstanding WWE prohibition against talent working outside the company. But Baszler isn’t the only big name Josh Barnett has spoken to about a potential Bloodsport appearance โ€” in WWE or AEW.

Barnett appeared as a guest this week on Wrestling Junkie’s Under the Ring podcast with Phil Strum and shared some other names that are sure to raise some eyebrows among pro wrestling fans.

“I love giving people opportunity, and that’s a huge reason to do this,” Barnett said. “So if given the chance to bring other guys in, of course. I’ve spoken with Malakai Black now plenty of times about coming in to Bloodsport. I’ve spoken to CM Punk. It would be great to have Chad Gable or Bron Breakker or any number of people with amateur backgrounds.”

Barnett also put over NXT’s Charlie Dempsey as someone who’s caught his eye and would fit the Bloodsport mold.

“Charlie Dempsey, he’s out there showing catch-as-catch-can, and he spent the time abroad training for quite some time. And I’ve actually worked with him over distance for some years prior.

“But honestly, the kid’s been doing all his own work, because he really wants to be the type of wrestler that you think he is. It’s important to him, I can see.”

AEW’s Miro was another name that Barnett threw out as a potential fit. And Bill Goldberg is someone that he said “is like family to me.”

While the sky is pretty much the limit and Baszler certainly seems to have opened a door that was long shut and padlocked, Barnett says in the end, anyone be brings in has to want to be there as much as he’d like having them there.

“Whoever it is, they also have to really see this ring for what it is and what we’ve created and say, ‘That is something I gotta do.'”

Bloodsport X and the rest of the GCW Collective events during WrestleMania week can be seen live on TrillerTV+.

How did Josh Barnett get Shayna Baszler for Bloodsport? ‘Through my relationships with people there’

Another thing that Josh Barnett feels is important is that Bloodsport isn’t out to compete with WWE or anyone else.

Josh Barnett has made enough friendships, training and business contacts within the pro wrestling industry to last several lifetimes. So when he asks about something that’s previously been unthinkable โ€” like getting a current WWE superstar to work on one of his Bloodsport shows โ€” people consider it.

That’s relevant in a big way right now as Barnett revealed that Shayna Baszler, who he trained to make the jump from MMA to pro wrestling, will compete on his upcoming Bloodsport X card in Philadelphia on April 4. It’s a huge deal as WWE has famously prohibited talent from working on outside shows, but as Barnett told Under the Ring host Phil Strum, there was no secret to making it happen other than the connections he’s made over the years.

“I guess the easiest way to describe it is just through my relationships with people there,” Barnett said. “That’s really what it comes down to. With anybody, when speaking with a promotion, you’re always going to want a … If you’re going to do anything outside of it, you want a certain level of trust and consideration given to you, and it’s hard to lend your toys out when there’s so much money put into them and the product itself.

“Of course, we see cross-promotion happening out there in the world of wrestling, but it’s really a big deal when you think about all the different things involved in it and the value of some of the athletes that are going back and forth. But fortunately, through relationships I’ve cultivated over the years, something like having Shayna Baszler at GCW Bloodsport is … it’s a reality now.”

Barnett also added that it helps that he’s not out to compete with any promotions with Bloodsport, but simply give talent another way to shine.

“I try to create this show as a neutral body, as something that stands alone and apart from all the rest of pro wrestling’s politics and ratings wars and so on and so forth. We’re not out there thinking about competing with anyone else but ourselves, and being capable of making the absolute best shows in the spirit of how I am trying to build Bloodsport to be. That’s it.”

Listen to Strum’s full conversation with Barnett above for many more insights from the Warmaster. Tickets for Bloodsport X, including Baszler’s match with Masha Slamovich, are sold out, but the event can be seen live along with the rest of the GCW Collective events during WrestleMania week on TrillerTV+.

Former UFC champ Josh Barnett to meet KSW champ Phil De Fries in Feb. 24 submission grappling match

A return to competition is imminent for former UFC champ Josh Barnett, who meets Phil De Fries in a grappling match later this month.

A return to competition is imminent for former UFC heavyweight champion [autotag]Josh Barnett[/autotag], who will take on current KSW heavyweight champ [autotag]Phil De Fries[/autotag] in a submission grappling match at “KSW: Epic” on Feb. 24 in Gliwice, Poland.

KSW announced the matchup Friday on social media.

Barnett, 46, hasn’t competed in MMA since September 2016, but he’s sparingly partaken in grappling matches. He most recently competed at the 2023 Catch Wrestling World Championship event in October, losing a decision against Owen Livesey.

De Fries, a one-time Bellator and former UFC fighter, has proven to be KSW’s greatest champion with nine consecutive title defenses dating back to October 2018. De Fries, 37, most recently defeated Szymon Bajor by rear-naked choke technical submission last July at KSW 84.

Today in MMA history: Affliction hosts star-studded ‘Banned’ event

Take a look back at the inaugural event of Affliction hosted 13 years ago today.

Thirteen years ago today, one of the best heavyweight fight cards in MMA went down in the U.S., but it wasn’t part of the UFC.

Back on July 19, 2008, Affliction hosted its inaugural event โ€“ Affliction: Banned, which took place at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. This card featured a high-profile, heavyweight matchup in the main event with the legendary [autotag]Fedor Emelianenko[/autotag] taking on former UFC champion [autotag]Tim Sylvia[/autotag]. Additionally,[autotag] Andrei Arlovski[/autotag] fought [autotag]Ben Rothwell[/autotag] and[autotag] Josh Barnett[/autotag] took on Pedro Rizzo.

The star-studded event even featured [autotag]Vitor Belfort[/autotag], [autotag]Antonio Rogerio Nogueira[/autotag], and [autotag]Gary Goodridge[/autotag] the preliminary card. That’s how stacked Affliction: Banned was.

And to counter-program the card, the UFC put its middleweight champion, Anderson Silva, to fight on a UFC Fight Night event after headlining five consecutive pay-per-view cards. Silva moved up a weight class to take on tough veteran James Irvin at UFC Fight Night 14, which aired on Spike TV.ย  That would be Silva’s only Fight Night performance in a decade, as he would fight again on a non-UFC pay-per-view in 2016 against Michael Bisping at UFC Fight Night 84.

Take a look back at the stacked Affliction: Banned in the video above.

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Scott Coker: Josh Barnett, Junior Dos Santos, Alistair Overeem among those in talks for Fedor Emelianenko

Plenty of hands were raised when Bellator announced Fedor Emelianenko is returning this October.

UNCASVILLE, Conn. โ€“ When Bellator announced [autotag]Fedor Emelianenko[/autotag]’s return Friday morning, a lot of hands went up according to promotion president Scott Coker.

While the announcement revealed Emelianenko (39-6 MMA, 3-2 BMMA) will fight Oct. 23 at VTB Arena in Moscow, the opponent has still not been decided. Following Bellator 261 on Friday, Coker was pressed on potential matchmaking options and revealed a few of the names he’s been talking to in recent days.

“Believe me, there is no shortage of opponents (for) Russia right now,” Coker said at a post-fight news conference. “Listen, the managers of all the free agents are calling. [autotag]Josh Barnett[/autotag] was texting me today. I talked to ([autotag]Junior Dos Santos[/autotag]’) manager a couple days ago. [autotag]Alistair Overeem[/autotag]. The list goes on and on and on.”

Barnett (35-8 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) is currently under contract with Bellator, though he has not competed for the organization โ€“ or at all, since 2016. He’s been vocal about his desire for the Emelianenko matchup, something he asked for publicly as recently as Friday.

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Dos Santos (21-9) was released from the UFC in March and has not signed with another organization.

Overeem (47-19), who was released the same day as Dos Santos, recently announced he signed with GLORY Kickboxing. However, the terms of his contract and its exclusivity pertaining to MMA is not known. Additionally, Bellator and GLORY have cross-promoted in the past.

Coker said one matchup he has not considered and looked into is former UFC middleweight champion [autotag]Anderson Silva[/autotag] (34-11), who defeated boxing star Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. by split decision in an exhibition match June 19.

Bellator 261 took place Friday at Mohegan Sun Arena. The main card aired on Showtime after prelims on MMA Junkie.

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Josh Barnett, Tito Ortiz express interest in being Fedor Emelianenko’s final Bellator foe

It appears Scott Coker will have options when deciding who to put across the cage from Fedor Emelianenko in his farewell fight.

It appears Scott Coker will have options when deciding who to put across the cage from [autotag]Fedor Emelianenko[/autotag] in his farewell fight.

Bellator president Coker told MMA Junkie in December that he has a big grand finale in mind for Emelianenko’s (39-6 MMA, 3-2 BMMA) illustrious career. It includes putting the Russian in a packed stadium of 30,000 people in Moscow, but the coronavirus pandemic obviously makes that an extremely challenging aspiration.

With the COVID-19 vaccine starting to roll out, though, Coker’s optimism is increasing that he can successfully execute his plan. If it does happens, who will be standing across from him?

The MMA Junkie staff made some choices in the most recent edition of “Spinning Back Clique,” a weekly panel discussion on MMA topics. Two names who weren’t mentioned, though, were former UFC champions [autotag]Josh Barnett[/autotag] and [autotag]Tito Ortiz[/autotag], who threw their names into the hat over the weekend (via Twitter):

Barnett (35-8), who said he’s the “only correct decision” in a follow-up reply on Twitter, has a history with Emelianenko. The pair were supposed to fight in the now-defunct Affliction organization in 2009, but the fight fell apart days prior when Barnett failed a drug test, sparking a chain reaction that in the opinion of many led to the promotion’s downfall.

The years since have seen Barnett repeatedly push to have the fight rebooked, but it’s never come to fruition.

Ortiz (21-12-1), meanwhile, hasn’t fought for Bellator since beating Chael Sonnen in January 2017. He’s had a pair of fights against Chuck Liddell and Alberto Del Rio, but hasn’t competed since December 2019 and has since moved into a career in politics, serving in a well-publicized role on the Huntington Beach city council.

Emelianenko, for his part, last saw action at Bellator 237 in December 2019, finishing Quinton Jackson with strikes in the first round.

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Joe Rogan rips MMA’s win bonus structure: ‘People just get f*cking robbed’

Joe Rogan is not fond of MMA’s win bonus structure.

Joe Rogan has never been one to hold back an opinion

On a recent episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast, that was no different when Rogan spoke about win bonuses with guest and Bellator MMA heavyweight [autotag]Josh Barnett[/autotag]. Rogan criticized MMA’s widely-implemented win bonus structure, which is used by most major promotions, including his employer, the UFC.

“Don’t you think there’s a problem in incentivizing people to just win because you have a win bonus?” Rogan said. “A win bonus, I do not like. I’ve said this from the beginning. I just don’t think it’s fair.”

Much of Rogan’s criticism of the matter falls on inconsistent judging. Rogan voiced his distaste that fighters can’t rely on getting paid the correct amount of a victory-worthy performance.

“First of all, if you’re going to do a win bonus, you’ve got to do something about the judging,” Rogan said. “You need to have a better scoring system and you need to get rid of incompetence. Then, when you go to other states, you need to take control of the situation. Yes: In other states it’s dire.ย  I don’t want to name states, but there have been states where we do fights where I’m just going, ‘Who watched that fight? How is that even possible?’ People just get (expletive) robbed.

“If you have win bonuses (and) if a guy comes in and gets 50, and if he wins he gets another 50, you stole $50,000 from that guy by giving him incompetent judging. If you’re a fighter, you’ve got to do your best to win. If that means taking a guy down and hump and throw enough punches to keep the referee from standing it up, that’s $50,000 for you.”

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While Rogan did not bring a solution to the issue to the table himself, he accepted Barnett’s suggestion of “finish bonuses” being implemented in place of win bonuses.

“I don’t think (win bonuses) incentivize those guys,” Rogan said. “At the top level? Have you ever tried to not win? … I think finish bonuses is not a bad idea. But I think it should be a bonus โ€“ not half of your (expletive) purse. I would at least like to see someone come along with an alternative take on how fighters are paid, and we haven’t really seen that.”

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Bellator 241’s Ronny Markes not going to ‘talk (expletive)’ about Josh Barnett despite pullouts

Bellator 241’s Ronny Markes is electing to stay respectful toward Josh Barnett despite their fight falling apart twice.

UNCASVILLE, Conn. โ€“ [autotag]Ronny Markes[/autotag] could be bitter, but he’s not.

A Bellator newcomer, Markes (19-7 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) was booked to fight against [autotag]Josh Barnett[/autotag] twice in the past three months. Both times the fights were cancelled. The first instance happened in December, when Barnett (35-8 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) was forced out of his promotional debut due to a day-of-fight medical issue. The fight was rebooked for Friday’s Bellator 241, but Barnett was yanked from the card due to undisclosed commission issues.

In Barnett’s place, former UFC fighter Matt Mitrione (13-7 MMA, 4-2 BMMA) stepped in on short notice last week.

Despite the back-to-back fight shakeups, Markes said he holds no ill will toward Barnett. He respects the PRIDE, UFC, and Strikeforce legend, the Brazilian heavyweight told MMA Junkie at a pre-fight media day held Wednesday.

“I liked the time there, but I didn’t like the vacation,” Markes said, of Hawaii. “I (went) there and brought my whole coaching (staff), everybody. I’d love to (have) seen this fight. Josh was sick. I respect him. He’s an honorable guy. He’s a legend.

“Right now, I don’t know what kind of problem he had with the commission, but I didn’t come here to talk (expletive) about Josh. He needs my respect. I respect him a lot. He needs to fix his problems with the commission. I hope this fixes soon. Me and him have a deal. He signed the contract to fight me. I hope this happens in the future.”

In Markes’ eyes, it would be inappropriate for him to hold a grudge. What if he encounters the same issue down the line? How would that make him look?

“Everybody has a bad day or bad feelings in their lives,” Markes said. “Why am I going to talk bad about him? Maybe tomorrow, I’ll be in the same situation. You know? Why am I going to come here and talk a lot of (expletive)? I’m not a typical guy (who) tries to take advantage of something negative. I hope he fixes everything and Bellator schedules me and him.”

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When the two heavyweights step in the cage Friday night, Markes said he’s going to charge forward. If he can get his hands on the American, Markes thinks he’ll score a knockout.

“I’m going to walk forward,” Markes said. “I’m going to try to put my hands (on him). If my hands connect, it will 100 percent (make) him drop. Because, the heavyweights, only one hand can change everything.”

Bellator 241 takes place Friday at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. The main card streams on DAZN following prelims on MMA Junkie.

Check out MMA Junkie’s full Bellator 241 pre-fight interview with Ronny Markes in the video above.

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MMA Junkie Radio #3032: UFC 248 preview with Nolan King and Danny Segura

MMA Junkie Radio hosts “Gorgeous” George and “Goze” are joined by MMA Junkie’s Nolan King and Danny Segura to preview UFC 248 in Las Vegas.

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Thursday’s edition of MMA Junkie Radio with hosts โ€œGorgeousโ€ George and โ€œGozeโ€ is here!

On Episode No. 3,032 of the podcast, the guys are joined by MMA Junkie reporters Nolan King and Danny Segura, who are in Las Vegas to cover UFC 248. They react to the latest MMA news and notes, as well as preview the two huge title fights taking place this Saturday at T-Mobile Arena.

THE RUNDOWN

  • [autotag]Marlon Moraes[/autotag] and [autotag]Petr Yan[/autotag] are set to headline the UFC’s debut event in Kazakhstan, which is a pivotal fight to the bantamweight title picture. With champ Henry Cejudo defending his title against Jose Aldo at UFC 250, that leaves Aljamain Sterling as the odd man out. Was Moraes-Yan the right fight to make, and is all of this fair?
  • [autotag]Dustin Poirier[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Dan Hooker[/autotag] is in the works to headline UFC San Diego in May. The guys react to that matchup and wonder if that could mean we’re moving toward [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Justin Gaethje[/autotag].
  • Two titles are on the line at UFC 248, with [autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag] defending is middleweight belt vs. [autotag]Yoel Romero[/autotag], while [autotag]Weili Zhang[/autotag] will make her first strawweight title defense against ex-champ [autotag]Joanna Jedrzejczyk[/autotag]. We preview these two huge main events.
  • [autotag]Josh Barnett[/autotag]’s Bellator debut is on hold once again as he’s out of next week’s Bellator 241 show after failing a “medical requirement.” Matt Mitrione will step in to fight Ronny Markes. We offer some thoughts on this situation.

Stream or download this and all episodes of MMA Junkie Radio over at OmnyStudio, or check it out above. You can also catch it on Apple Podcasts,ย Spotify,ย Stitcher, and more. A new episode of the podcast is released every Monday and Thursday.

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Josh Barnett out, Matt Mitrione in vs. Ronny Makes at Bellator 241

Josh Barnett vs. Ronny Markes is once again off, but this time Markes has a new opponent lined up.

[autotag]Josh Barnett[/autotag] is once again out of a fight with [autotag]Ronny Markes[/autotag], but this time Markes will fight on.

Barnett (35-8 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) has been pulled from Bellator 241 on March 13 in Uncasville, Conn. MMA Junkie on Wednesday confirmed with promotion officials an initial report from MMA reporter Cole Shelton.

Instead, Markes (19-7 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) will fight veteran Matt Mitrione on the main card at Mohegan Sun Arena. MMA Junkie confirmed the change first reported by MMA Fighting.

Two weeks ago, reports surfaced on Twitter that Barnett was off the card due to a failed drug test. At the time time, Mike Mazzulli, head of the Mohegan Tribe Athletic Department, which oversees the card, told MMA Junkie that Barnett was not off the card. On Wednesday, however, Mazzulli told MMA Junkie that “Mr. Barnett has failed (a) medical requirement by the Mohegan Tribe Athletic Department and will not be fighting on the March 13 Bellator event. He will not be allowed to fight till he resolves the failed test.”

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Bellator officials simply said Barnett was not licensed by the commission and could not comment further.

Barnett has a considerable history with licensing issues. In 2001, he was given a warning by the Nevada Athletic Commission after testing positive for banned substances after defeating Bobby Hoffman at UFC 24. The UFC gave Barnett a heavyweight title shot anyway, and after Barnett defeated Randy Couture at UFC 36, he again tested positive for banned substances and became the first fighter ever stripped of a UFC title for doing so.

In 2009 and 2010, Barnett had a series of run-ins with the California State Athletic Commission, which ultimately resulted in a denial of licensure and led to the cancellation of an Affliction card, which he was slated to headline against Fedor Emelianenko.

In December 2016, Barnett received notice of a potential U.S. Anti-Doping Agency violation for which he was cleared, but not after being sidelined for more than a year.

Barnett was originally set to fight Markes on last December at Bellator’s “Salute the Troops” event in Hawaii, but had to withdraw because of illness the day of the card.

Markes will now make his long-delayed Bellator debut against Mitrione (13-7 MMA, 4-2 BMMA), who has dropped his past two fights to Ryan Bader and Sergei Kharitonov.

Barnett, 42, still hasn’t fought since September 2016.

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