Issue 105
September 2013
Two of the heavyweight division’s most aggressive grapplers, and best talkers, square off in a battle of ex UFC champs this August
At a time when more and more fighters are whipping up resentment and speculation due to the controversial granting of medical certificates that allow testosterone replacement therapy (TRT), the first man to ever be stripped of a UFC title for what now seems like a quaintly old-fashioned positive drugs test for steroids, returns to the firm after an 11-year absence.
Josh Barnett (32-6), still comparatively young at 35, is one of a very, very small number of fighters who were highly ranked in 2002 and remain so in 2013.
Fighting for 10 different promotions since he was stripped of the title, which he’d just successfully defended, following a test failure at UFC 36, and subsequent hearing where he denied usage, Josh has mostly fought in Japan.
Barnett had been caught using steroids just four months earlier at UFC 34 and, with no serious testing regime or rules in place for MMA, let off with a warning. Fast-forward to 2009 and another positive test hastened the demise of the short-lived Affliction promotion.
Scheduled to fight Fedor Emelianenko, Barnett fluffed an ‘out of competition’ test several weeks earlier and the event was canceled, killing the big-spending outfit stone dead. Two years later, Barnett signed with Strikeforce where he went 3-1 in the cage and proved he can pass drug tests.
For all the chemically-enhanced controversy, Barnett is a very talented heavyweight who, if not for a poisonous relationship with Dana White, would likely have been back in the Octagon years ago.
A neat striker, a vocal advocate of catch wrestling and a strong finisher (17 inside-the-distance finishes since leaving UFC) Barnett had a classic pair of fights in Pride FC, going 1-1, with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, but the majority of his wins have been against fighters who some may describe as nobodies or over-the-hill.
If Barnett is the black sheep returning to the fold, opponent Mir (16-7) has long been a company favorite, racking up more UFC heavyweight fights than anyone else, boasting a whopping 21 appearances (two thirds of them victories) in the Octagon. Ironically, Mir’s first two UFC fights were at UFC 34 and 36 where his quick, destructive submission wins over Roberto Traven and Pete Williams had many tipping him, after his second outing, as a potential future opponent for newly-crowned champion Barnett.
Surviving a horrific motorcycle accident and bouncing back from some atrocious performances, Mir has twice held the UFC heavyweight title (one of them the interim version) and as recently as May 2012 challenged Junior dos Santos for the belt. Mir was outclassed and finished by JDS and followed that up with a turgid three-round decision loss to a subpar Daniel Cormier. That would be the same Cormier who spent five rounds outwrestling, suplexing, mauling and battering Barnett to win the Strikeforce Grand Prix in real style last May.
Had things turned out differently, these two could have been fighting each other for UFC gold as early as 2003. Then, it would have been a top-level match pitting two of the division’s youngest and best stars against each other. Now, Mir looks far away from title contention: 0-2 in his last two fights, his performances have not echoed the submission artist who burst on to the scene over a decade ago, and that’s despite using the apparently rejuvenating TRT himself.
True, his striking has greatly improved since then, but the injury-prone Las Vegas resident has perhaps too often focused on size and strength in recent years. The fleshy Barnett has surprisingly good stamina, is a better overall fighter and unlike many new UFC signings, is no stranger to big occasions and high-pressure fights. This win should be his.
If it isn’t, he’s unlikely to cause much of a stir in the UFC’s hugely diverse heavyweight talent pool.
