Josh Barnett has had his Bellator debut postponed again as he has reportedly failed a drug test.
Barnett was going to be making his Bellator debut against Ronny Markes at Bellator 241 on March 13, 2020. That will no longer be the case as he has been flagged for a banned substance. Fight Oracle recently reported on their Twitter that the former UFC and PRIDE heavyweight has failed a drug test. These events have since been confirmed by multiple reporters.
“Breaking @JoshLBarnett has been flagged by the Mohegan Sun Athletic Commission for a banned substance. Barnett has been removed from Bellator next month at Mohegan Sun. He was scheduled to fight @RonnyMarkes,” he tweeted.
“So contrary to claims, @BellatorMMA does have out of competition drug testing in several jurisdictions. All of their European events, California, Connecticut,” he added.
This is evidently a setback for Josh Barnett who was previously flagged by USADA in December of 2016. He was cleared to fight in March 2018 and was given a ‘public reprimand’ after it was ruled to come by a contaminated supplement. He then requested and was given his UFC release. Barnett signed with Bellator almost a year later after doing some pro wrestling.
Josh Barnett was expected to make his Bellator debut against Markes in the main event of Bellator: Salute the Troops in December, 2019 but fell ill on the night of the event and was pulled from the fight. The two men were re-booked for Bellator 241, but the fight will not happen now.
Barnett hasn’t competed in MMA since September 3, 2016, where he was able to submit Andrei Arlovski. In his career, he has notable wins over such fighters as Roy Nelson, Frank Mir, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Mark Hunt, Randy Couture, and Dan Severn.
Meanwhile, his scheduled opponent Markes hasn’t fought since June, 2019 on PFL 3 where he won against Sigi Pesaleli via TKO. Markes has missed weight in back-to-back fights, which resulted in him being kicked out of the PFL tournament, but was able to quickly secure a contract with Bellator.
This article first appeared on CLOSEDGUARDMEDIA.com on 22nd February, 2020.
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