Josh Barnett arbitrates and wins. Receives ‘Public Reprimand’

Joshua L Barnett has fought for almost two years to clear his name to USADA and finally, he won. Sure, he’s been out of action for about 500 days and sure, he’s lost potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in fight money; But, at least he has cleared his name. It wasn’t for a lack of trying on USADA’s part, either. They are impossible to arbitrate against, but Barnett is the first to have ever beaten them. This opens the doors for other fighters to win rulings on tainted supplements, but only if they did the same meticulous work that Barnett did.

Eight months ago on our sister site, MikeSwick.com, we wrote about Josh going on the Joe Rogan Podcast and he said this in regards to his case:

“I’ve spent, like, two grand having supplements tested. Just in case, I keep bits of everything I take and keep it around. This was a brand I’d taken before. This was a supplement that had been an ingredient in other stuff that I’ve never had a problem with. I always checked the label with their Global DRO thing. I would do all their steps about cross-referencing this, that, and the other. Always ok. I was making sure I was always being upfront and doing what they said.

So, I got some bullshit in something I didn’t expect. So we test it, they back their findings up with a completely brand new bottle and batch. I’m still suspended, but I don’t understand what more I can do.”

USADA offered a statement, via the UFC website:

“Barnett, 40, tested positive for ostarine following an out-of-competition test conducted on December 9, 2016. Ostarine is a non-Specified Substance in the class of Anabolic Agents and is prohibited at all times under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, which has adopted the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List.

Given the source was established to be a contaminated supplement, along with the athlete’s care and diligence concerning the nutritional products consumed, the arbitrator determined that a public reprimand was appropriate.”

Now, Barnett has to get back on the horse at forty-years-old if he chooses to resume his fight career.