Josh Barnett is officially off of Bellator 241.
The former UFC Heavyweight Champion was scheduled to fight Ronny Markes at the event; however, Fight Oracle first reported that the 42-year-old had failed the pre-fight drug test conducted by the Mohegan Sun Athletic Commission.
As of this writing, there’s no word on whether Markes will fight a replacement at the pay-per-view. The bout between the two heavyweights was originally scheduled for Bellator 235; however, Barnett was forced to pull out due to getting sick on the day of the event.
Barnett is no stranger to this situation as the veteran failed three drug tests during his two stints with the UFC. The former UFC Heavyweight Champion left the promotion in 2018 due to his mistrust of USADA (Transcript courtesy of fansided):
“The debacle with USADA over the last year and a half has also influenced my decision to exit the UFC,” he wrote.
“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. For their stance to necessitate my retaining counsel and do legal battle with them in the presence of an arbitrator was unnecessary.
They preferred an adversarial to a just and fair process. I cannot in good conscience trust them to act in good faith or perhaps may even wish to look to enact some sort of vengeance in an attempt to cancel out my victory against them in arbitration. It’s not the kind of environment that I want to spend the final years of my career in.”
Neither Barnett or Bellator MMA have commented on the situation. We’ll keep you updated when more news comes along regarding the story.