Josh Barnett was one of the youngest and brightest stars in MMA when he burst onto the scene in 1997, quickly running his professional record to 7-0 with a notable win over Dan Severn in February of 2000. Though he lost his second UFC fight to striking specialist Pedro Rizzo at UFC 30 in 2001, Barnett went on to become the UFC Heavyweight Champion, defeating Randy Couture by TKO at UFC 36 the next year. Barnett’s first public scandal with steroids took place after this fight, as he was stripped of his UFC title after testing positive for three banned substances.

Following his UFC career, Barnett became one of the most successful fighters overseas, defeating Yuki Kondo and Semmy Schilt (for the second time) and winning the Openweight King of Pancrase Championship in between. The articulate and extroverted “Babyfaced Assassin” would build a solid fan base over the next three years while competing for the Japan-based Pride Fighting Championships, defeating the likes of Kazuhiro Nakamura, Aleksander Emelianenko, Mark Hunt, and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira during his stay.

While he has continued to win fights in recent years, Barnett’s reputation and position in MMA history was permanently compromised with another failed steroid test in 2009. This time, however, the results were disastrous, as the failed test prevented Barnett from participating in a scheduled main event title fight with heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko, and precipitated the collapse of the Affliction fight organization, which shuttered the entire event as well as its struggling fight promotion business shortly thereafter.

Beyond his technical striking, good size, physical toughness and tenacity, Barnett is first and foremost one of the best submission fighters in the heavyweight division, having won more than 50% of his professional fights by way of submission. Many feel that he has the potential to establish himself as one of the best fighters in the world yet again, should he be able to put his controversies behind him.