With the announcement on Tuesday of Strikeforce’s World Grand Prix heavyweight tournament, one of the questions left to be answered is the participation of “The Baby Faced Assassin” Josh Barnett (26-5) who is currently unlicensed in the U.S. Barnett is scheduled to meet Brett Rogers in the opening round of the tournament.
In the summer of 2009 Barnett had been scheduled to face Fedor Emelianenko in the main event of the Affliction: Trilogy show but tested positive for anabolic steroids before the bout and had his license revoked by the California State Athletic Commission. His removal from the card doomed the show and Affliction as a mixed martial arts promoter. “The Baby Faced Assassin” is currently in the process of trying to have his license re-instated and is waiting to re-schedule another meeting with CSAC officials.
It appears that there are a number of regulatory bodies willing to license Barnett for his fight in New Jersey barring a clean drug test. ESPN’s Josh Gross has the scoop.
With Barnett currently unlicensed to fight in the U.S. since the summer of 2009 because of his third positive test for anabolic steroids, questions linger over his ability to compete. However, Coker said Strikeforce has engaged in conversations with multiple regulatory bodies that are apparently willing to license the fighter, presuming he provides a clean drug test. Coker said at this point he doesn’t intend to promote Barnett in California, where the heavyweight is scheduled to appear in front of the state’s athletic commission in February.