It has been a long-time coming, but former UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett has signed a multi-fight deal with the organization.
On Tuesday MMAJunkie.com dropped the news on the heavyweight signing.
Barnett has been fighting in professional MMA since 1997 and won the UFC heavyweight championship back in 2002 at UFC 36. He was later stripped of the title due to testing positive for a banned substance.
“The Warmaster” spent the next six years fighting overseas in Japan – most of his time under the PRIDE banner.
In 2008 Barnett signed with the Affliction organization and defeated Pedro Rizzo and Gilbert Yvel in that promotion.
When that promotion went under, the Seattle, Washington native signed with Strikeforce. He went 3-1 in Strikeforce picking up victories over Brett Rogers, Sergei Kharitonov and Nandor Guelmino. His lone loss with the organization came to underdog and current UFC heavyweight Daniel Cormier in the finals of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix.
When Strikeforce closed its doors the UFC and Barnett supposedly were very close to signing a deal, however that quickly fell through. Lucky enough for MMA fans Barnett has agreed to terms with the promotion and will make his return to the Octagon in the not so distant future.
