Josh Barnett is officially a Bellator MMA athlete.
Josh Barnett is the latest legend of the sport to sign with Bellator MMA.
Barnett, 41, officially signed his Bellator contract live on Monday’s episode of Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show. Company president Scott Coker welcomed Barnett to the promotion via Twitter. “The Warmaster” also tweeted about his contract, sharing a wrestling promo-esque poem.
“As man fights man
In the epic struggle for survivalThe Warmaster shall reign
With oppression fed by a burning hate”Here I come @BellatorMMA https://t.co/zJmKaERjHV
— (@JoshLBarnett) April 1, 2019
There is no word yet on when Barnett will compete for Bellator, but the former UFC heavyweight champion will likely need to shake off some rust. Barnett has not competed in mixed martial arts since a 2016 submission victory over Andrei Arlovski at UFC Hamburg.
Consistency in MMA has been an issue for Barnett over the last several years. He has only competed three times in the last five years, sandwiching a loss to Ben Rothwell between wins over Arlovski and fellow Bellator heavyweight Roy Nelson. Nevertheless, he has remained active in other athletics, including: professional wrestling and submission grappling.
Barnett’s latest MMA inactivity was caused by The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) announcement that Barnett had been flagged for a potential anti-doping failure. Barnett has publicly and repeatedly trashed USADA after it took 16 months for an arbitrator to determine a public reprimand was appropriate.
Barnett will appear on April 4 in “Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport” pro wrestling-hybrid event.