Earlier this week it was reported that former Heavyweight champion Josh Barnett had been released from the Ultimate Fighting Championship.Last night Barnett posted a formal statement via his Facebook page confirming his release, and that it came at his request.
“The call for adventure is still within me, and I wish to exercise it.”
– Josh Barnett
Barnett is very complimentary toward the UFC regarding his second stint, and remains positive in his statement. However Barnett is at a place in his career where he is looking for the flexibility and opportunity to try new and different things – things which will not be afforded to him by the demands of and obligations to the UFC.
https://www.facebook.com/notes/josh-barnett/to-lands-unknown-and-uncoquered-to-battles-yet-fought-i-have-left-the-ufc/10155538517662108/
Josh Barnett is one of the minds behind the Quintet team format grappling promotion co-created with legend Kazushi Sakuraba. With more Quintet events planned for this year and next across several continents, Barnett will be able to focus on this and other avenues.
Barnett will also be competing in an 8 man Open Weight Catch Wrestling tournament this July, to determine the modern era’s first unified champion. Coupled with a desire to return to Pro Wrestling and to reboot the popular UWFi promotion of the 1990’s, Barnett will be keeping busy.
“There are a lot of stories left to tell with my career, and I want to be the one to determine them…”
Josh Barnett on USADA
One factor in Barnett requesting his release from the UFC was the debacle by the United States Anti Doping Agency’s handling of his failed drug test. Barnett was able to prove he had unwittingly used a tainted supplement – something he had maintained when he was first flagged by USADA.
“Their dogged insistence to punish me for what they absolutely knew was an issue of contamination was unethical. By trying to manufacture any reason they could legitimize to increase sanctions against me was unacceptable … It’s not the kind of environment that I want to spend the final years of my career in.”
The entire Facebook note is worth a read, and the optimism and positivity is refreshing. Catch Wrestling U looks forward to what comes next,
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