Josh Barnett: 5 Defining Moments

He is as complex a figure as exists in mixed martial arts.

Still the youngest man to ever capture the Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight crown, Josh Barnett has experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. “The Warmaster” owns a resume that stacks up with the majority of his contemporaries, but the accomplishments that have been accumulated over a long and successful career have been overshadowed by multiple suspensions for positive PED tests. One of those infractions led to his being stripped of the UFC heavyweight championship in 2002 and resulted in his being exiled from the company for some 11 years. For all his gifts and all his flaws, Barnett will go down as one of the top 10 heavyweights of all-time whenever he decides to put down the gloves. The 38-year-old Seattle native will meet fellow former champion Andre Arlovski in the UFC Fight Night 93 main event on Saturday at the Barclaycard Arena in Hamburg, Germany.

In a career with plenty of defining moments, here are five that stand out:

1. On Top of the World

Barnett became the youngest man -- he was 24 at the time -- to reach the top of the Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight mountain at UFC 36 on March 22, 2002, when he stopped Randy Couture with second-round punches at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Fourteen years Couture’s junior, he entered the Octagon with a two-inch height and 17-pound advantage on “The Natural.” However, for the better part of two rounds, Barnett was on his back eating ground-and-pound from the three-time NCAA All-American wrestler. Couture even advanced to full mount for a brief moment in round two, but he nevertheless left the door ajar. Barnett reversed into top position under threat of a leg lock and spent some two minutes chipping away at the future hall of famer with punches, elbows and forearm strikes. Couture finally wilted under the barrage 4:35 into round two. He strapped the belt around Barnett’s waist himself. “He’s awesome,” Barnett said. “He pushed me. I pushed him. I took advantage of those opportunities. I don’t know if I could ever be the kind of champion Randy was, but I’m going to do my best for everybody out here.” He did not sit on the throne for long. A positive test for anabolic steroids resulted in Barnett being stripped of the title four months later. He would not compete in the UFC again for more than a decade.

2. Besting a Legend

There may never again be a greater concentration of talent in one tournament than that which comprised the 2006 Pride Fighting Championships open weight grand prix. The list of names remains staggering: Barnett, Mark Hunt, Fabricio Werdum, Alistair Overeem, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Mirko Filipovic, Hidehiko Yoshida and Wanderlei Silva. Barnett was viewed as a serious player in the 15-man tournament, and he did not disappoint. Submission wins against Aleksander Emelianenko and the aforementioned Hunt set up a semifinal showdown with Nogueira, the legendary Brazilian grappler who would come to define toughness in a mixed martial arts context. Barnett outlasted “Minotauro” across 15 minutes, earning a split decision at Pride Final Conflict Absolute on Sept. 10, 2006 in Saitama, Japan. Though he would submit to punches from Filipovic in the tournament final later that same day, the victory over Nogueira still holds a prominent place on his resume.

3. Death Threat

Barnett got his hands on the Pancrase open weight championship on Aug. 31, 2003, when he submitted the ubiquitous Yuki Kondo with a third-round rear-naked choke. After spending the majority of the first round softening the Japanese journeyman with punches and knees in the clinch, Barnett started to tighten his squeeze on the match. He struck for multiple takedowns, achieved full mount and assaulted Kondo with an assortment of strikes on the mat in the second. Kondo’s situation only deteriorated from there. In round three, Barnett executed a pair of textbook belly-to-back suplexes, waded through some artillery on the feet once the two men were upright again and then dragged Kondo back to the mat. Punches, shoulder strikes and hammerfists rained down upon the UFC veteran. In full mount, Barnett could be overheard taunting Kondo: “I’m going to [expletive] kill you.” When Kondo attempted to strike from the bottom, an enraged Barnett implored him to “[expletive] do it again.” Kondo ultimately wilted under an incessant barrage of punches, yielded his back and surrendered the choke 3:26 into the third round. Barnett then rose to his feet and gave his trademark throat slash, paying no mind to the pro-Kondo crowd at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo.

4. Worth the Wait

They say good things come to those who wait. Barnett waited a long time for his chance at revenge against Pedro Rizzo, the man who handed him his first professional defeat at UFC 30 in February 2001. Their rematch took place seven years, four months and 26 days later. While Rizzo’s career was by then on its last leg, victory was no less sweet for Barnett. They met at Affliction “Banned” on July 19, 2008 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, where they were greeted by 14,832 fans. Barnett committed to a stinging jab, cut angles and ducked out of danger, as he mixed in front kicks, left hooks and occasional uppercuts as the bout progressed. Known for his savage leg kicks, Rizzo shrugged off repeated clinch attempts from the catch wrestler but never found a rhythm offensively. Early in the second round, Barnett fired off a right hook and followed it with a looping left that sent the Brazilian crashing to the canvas, flat on his back and unconscious. The decisive conclusion came 1:44 into round two. It did not, however, end the Barnett-Affliction relationship. No, his connection to the ill-fated promotion would run much deeper in time.

5. Burning Down the House

Barnett was one of several lynchpins of the stacked heavyweight division in Pride Fighting Championships, but he never crossed paths with the great Fedor Emelianenko. That was supposed to change in the summer of 2009, as they were booked to headline Affliction “Trilogy” on Aug. 1. The Affliction promotion was in dire need of a blockbuster after its first two events had reportedly left it deep in debt. Organizers aimed high with Emelianenko-Barnett, a matchup wrought with history and intrigue. It was not meant to be. Ten days before the show, the California State Athletic Commission announced that Barnett had tested positive for drostanalone, an anabolic steroid. The bout was nixed, and Affliction canceled the entire card. Shortly after, the promotion went belly up, with Emelianenko signing with Strikeforce and Barnett taking his turn as a hired gun. They still have never fought one another.