Sherdog’s Top 10: Phenoms

Josh Barnett became UFC heavyweight champion at the age of 24. | Photo: D. Mandel/Sherdog.com

4. Josh Barnett

Catch wrestler extraordinaire Barnett is rarely thought of as a phenom today, given his 18-year tenure as a professional fighter and his participation in every major promotion in the sport’s history. The death metal aficionado and submission wizard is the very embodiment of a grizzled veteran, having fought every generation of heavyweights, from Dan Severn to Travis Browne, not to mention everyone in between. Before he became “The Warmaster,” however, Barnett was the “The Baby-Faced Assassin,” an homage to the time when he was destroying well-known heavyweights as a youthful wrestler.

Barnett began his professional career at the tender age of 19 and defeated the likes of Severn, Bobby Hoffman and Gan McGee before his 23rd birthday. It took him only three years to rise from SuperBrawl shows to the UFC, and his first appearance in the promotion was a fight against former title challenger Pedro Rizzo. When he defeated Randy Couture for the UFC heavyweight crown, he was only 24 years old. His run in Pride Fighting Championships, which included three fights against Mirko Filipovic, a pair duels with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and a submission win over Mark Hunt, concluded before his 30th birthday. Particularly for a heavyweight, whose careers tend to begin later in life, that is an extraordinary resume for a young fighter.

Now 37, Barnett is still one of the best heavyweights on the planet. He has amassed a well of technical knowledge, particularly of grappling, that exceeds practically any fighter in the sport. Regardless of how one feels about his various run-ins with state athletic commissions over the years, Barnett’s success as a youthful phenom should not be overlooked.

Number 3 » He earned his nickname through his exceptional career in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, where it took him only a few years to go from novice Hawaiian grappler to the first non-Brazilian world champion at the Mundials. That rapid rise also translated to his career in MMA, where his shocking athletic gifts and preternatural skills on the mat quickly made him one of the best lighter-weight fighters in the world.