Josh Barnett vs. Frank Mir added to UFC 164

[No More Sorrow]

Former UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett's first octagon appearance in more than 11 years will take place at UFC 164, where he meets Frank Mir (16-7 MMA, 14-7 UFC).

UFC officials today announced the booking.


UFC 164 takes place Aug. 31 at Bradley Center in Milwaukee. The main card will air on pay-per-view.


As USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie.com (UFC blog for UFC news, UFC rumors, fighter interviews and event previews/recaps*–*MMAjunkie.com) first reported, Barnett (32-6 MMA, 4-1 UFC) recently re-signed with the UFC after a decade-long stint fighting in various global promotions.


Barnett has been fighting professionally since 1997 and made his promotional debut in 2000 with a TKO victory over Gan McGee at UFC 28. He would suffer a knockout loss to Pedro Rizzo in his next appearance before rattling off victories over Semmy Schilt, Bobby Hoffman and UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture. The win over Couture scored Barnett the UFC's heavyweight title, though he was later stripped of the belt in 2002 after failing the evening's post-fight drug test.


Barnett spent much of the next six years fighting in Japan, where in 2006 he made it to the finals of that year's PRIDE open weight grand prix before losing to Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic.


In 2008, Barnett returned to the U.S., where he earned victories over Gilbert Yvel in Rizzo under the Affliction banner before that promotion folded up shop. He would later sign with Strikeforce, where he advanced to the promotion's heavyweight grand prix final before falling short against undefeated contender Daniel Cormier. Barnett bounced back with a January win over Nandor Guelmino in Strikeforce's final event.


Meanwhile, former UFC champ Mir enters the bout looking to break a two-fight losing streak after dropping a decision to Daniel Cormier in April and suffering a TKO loss to Junior dos Santos in 2012. It's been a difficult stretch for Mir, who also was forced to pull out of a planned Strikeforce appearance after suffering an injury in training.


Mir's most recent win was a December 2011 victory over Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. After breaking the MMA legend's arm in the fight, Mir was awarded the evening's "Submission of the Night" bonus and was ultimately awarded the "Submission of the year" award at the 2012 Fighters Only World MMA Awards.

The rest of the card for UFC 164 looks like this

Clay Guida vs. Chad Mendes
Dustin Poirier vs. Erik Koch
Brandon Vera vs. Ben Rothwell
Diego Sanchez vs. TBA

With the addition of Mir-Barnett this is a damn fine card.

 

[Embrace Thou Maryse]

Awesome news, rest of the card doesn't interest me one bit though, between Guida, Diego, and a nothing HW fight I cant think of anything less exciting.

 

[Slim]

I was just watching ESPN and I saw this fight scroll on the bottom as I was looking at this thread. This is the only fight worth watching on this card as of right now.

 

[The Cork]

Good matchmaking, a rare sight nowdays.

Any chance to see Brandon Vera get knocked out is a reason to watch.

 

[Slim]

Good matchmaking, a rare sight nowdays.

Any chance to see Brandon Vera get knocked out is a reason to watch.

I did like the way Jon Jones brutalized him. Then there was the complete owning by Thiago Silva before he started pissing non human urine. So Big Ben... mannn this could be ugly.

 

[Hoss]

Imagine how great this would have been in 2010 though.

 

[Troy]

Excellent choice for his first UFC fight in over a decade. Can't wait to see how he goes, build up to this fight should be fun.

As for the rest of the card, I will be another that tunes in to see Vera get knocked out.

 

[Slim]

Heh... looks like nobody is giving Vera a chance. Hopefully Big Ben doesn't pull a Shogun and stink it up against Vera.

 

[Troy]

I can't stand the guy, so lucky to be on the roster, was only brought back after Thiago was busted for steroids. He did perform well against Shogun but still he is fortunate to get chance after chance.