Josh Barnett’s various combinations of fighting skills made him a tough bone to crack in full-contact combat sports. Josh Barnett has grappling technique, Muay Thai abilities, catch wrestling expertise, and mastery of other forms of combat earned him his nickname – The Warmaster. Others thought it wise and more befitting to nickname the professional wrestler and mixed martial artist in line with his youthful looks and combat artistry, thus they call him The Babyface Assassin.
While this bloke has proved his worth as a mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter with several organizations, he has in a similar fashion, thrived as a professional wrestler. Since 2003 when he made his Pro wrestling debut with New Japan Pro Wrestling, Josh has authenticated himself with other promotions like Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and Inoki Genome Federation.
Beyond establishing himself as an exceptional wrestler and mixed martial artist, Josh at the beginning of the year 2015, became a color commentator. Disregarding this, the man is also known to many as an actor. From the basic facts of his bio to his rise to fame, career attainments, and other endeavors, the following encompasses the things one ought to know about this American mixed martial artist.
Facts You Need To Know About Josh Barnett
Josh Barnett Age and Early Life
As the story goes, Babyface Assassin was born Joshua Lawrence Barnett on the 10th of November in the year 1977. His place of birth was in Seattle, Washington which was equally where he was brought up.
It is said that this dude showed he was born to fight in the earliest year of his life. His childhood was troubled, he had anger issues and was always fighting for one reason or another. In fact, it got so bad he was compelled to take anger management classes. Josh made the best use of this, he surpassed learning how to control his emotions and discovered how to channel it towards his athletic endeavors.
Rise To Fame
It was in Ballard High School that The Warmaster started developing himself actively for the fighting profession. Although Josh Barnett fancied football, he spent more time wrestling and receiving training in kickboxing and Judo. He soon witnessed a UFC brawl and decided he was tough enough to give it a shot.
The year 1997 saw him kickoff as a Pro MMA fighter with the United Full Contact Federation. Josh had a good time triumphing over other fighters who would later make a name for themselves in UFC, it was only normal he received an invite to become a UFC fighter. He made his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut in November 2000, bagged a victory against Gan McGee The Giant and it marked the beginning of his emergence as The Warmaster.
Career Attainments
Baby Face Assassin didn’t restrict himself only to the UFC, he has been with other American promotions like Affliction Entertainment and Strikeforce. Josh also left his mark in a handful of other MMA and Wrestling platforms based in Japan. This includes now-defunct World Victory Road (WVR) and Dream, Pride Fighting Championships which merged with UFC, Pancrase, and Sengoku Raiden Championship (SRC).
Meanwhile, Josh Barnett’s professional wrestling career which has been alive since 2003 has seen him compete with the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), Inoki Genome Federation (IGF), and the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).
Among his many accomplishments, The Warmaster became the youngest UFC Heavyweight Champion at the age of 24. Josh won the Pancrase Openweight Championship, the Metamoris Heavyweight Championship, and is a mixed martial arts Hall of Famer.
Why He Left UFC
It was quite a shock for Babyface Assassin’s fans when it emerged in June 2018 that the mixed martial artist demanded to be released from UFC. Stressing that his decision had nothing to do with the UFC, Josh related that he was motivated to make the move as he could no longer trust the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA).
Sometime in December 2016, USADA roped Josh Barnett over some doping violation which saw a suspension hanging around his neck. However, he was later exonerated after it was uncovered that the drug test he failed was a result of a contaminated supplement. The Warmaster has taken this fight to the courtroom, he sued the supplement company asking to be compensated for the damages the doping issue has caused his career.
Barnett as an Actor
Mr. Barnett is equally fairly popular for his activities in the movie industry. While you will find him as Tormac in 2018’s Chuck Hank and the San Diego Twins, he also portrayed Colt in 2017’s Mercenary: Absolution, Brody James in 2016’s Never Back Down: Any Surrender, and Office Larry in 2015’s Check, Please!
