Josh Barnett Climbs Aboard with DREAM

Japanese MMA kingpin DREAM will offer the platform for Josh "The Babyfaced Assassin" Barnett to resurrect his tumultuous heavyweight career.  MMAWeekly reports that the promotion has secured Barnett with an official contract, and the catch-wrestling wizard may still sneak on to their March 22nd card for his DREAM debut.

Barnett's career plummeted after he tested hot for steroids for the third time, and the gravity of "strike three" with a banned substance was tremendously magnified when Affliction was forced to cancel their entire event because Barnett had been booted from his headlining fight with Fedor Emelianenko, in what would have been the biggest fight of his life.  When Affliction ceased operations and got out of the fight business for good only days later, Barnett inherited the burden of fault for the entire debacle.

Regardless of the drama that has surrounded Josh Barnett and plagued his career, the fact remains that he's an amazingly talented heavyweight who was ranked #2 in the world leading up to the Fedor-fight in Affliction--for that reason alone, I'm thrilled to have him back on the menu.  He offers such a unique package of grace and agility for the heavyweight division, his deadly style of submission wrestling is a pleasure to watch, and his stand-up has steadily improved by degrees throughout his career.

Barnett smashed and submitted his way into the UFC by beginning his career with seven-straight wins, and then digested a right from Pedro Rizzo for his first career loss; undaunted, Barnett stayed on the throttle and finished Schilt and Hoffman before pummeling Randy Couture to become the youngest UFC champion in history.  Shortly after, steroid incident numero uno came into play, and Barnett was stripped of the title and cast overseas.

Barnett's continuing streak of wins propelled him to an opportunity in Pride, where he faced and was defeated twice in a row by Mirko CroCop (3 of Barnett's 5 losses are to CroCop, with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, a.k.a. Big Nog, and the aforementioned Rizzo accounting for the others).  Barnett kept plugging away with consecutive victories over Kazuhiro Nakamura, Aleksander Emelianenko, Mark Hunt, and then scored the biggest win of his career over former Pride champ Big Nog.

Although Nogueira would exact revenge on Barnett three fights later, this remains the last time he's been bested in MMA competition.

The news of Barnett's re-emergence is most significant because I believe he will eventually face-off with Fedor Emelianenko on the DREAM stage, considering the promotion's established a highway of fighter exchange with Strikeforce, home of "The Last Emperor".  This possibility was rumored last year, and I'm not alone in this suspicion.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves--for starters, Barnett has been rumored to be paired with Neil Grove, and the world of Twitter has developed some banter between Barnett and the UFC's Tom Lawlor about a possible fight against Seth Petruzelli, who is Lawlor's teammate.

Barnett: So I hear Neil Grove is a possible opponent and Seth Petruzelli wants to rumble too...bring 'em on! Seth has to bring Tom Lawler tho.

Petruzelli: @joshlbarnett i had my MNGR call the number you gave @lawlormma. i hope we can do this! please put in a word for me! i look forward to this!

Barnett: @silverbackseth You have a manager? I thought all you had was highlights and veneers...BTW...you would bring @lawlormma with you right?

Stay tuned for more information on Barnett and his first DREAM opponent as it unfolds.