Ohio to License Josh Barnett; Fight with Kharitonov is On

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The fight was always announced by Strikeforce, but without a license it was never set in stone. Now that the Ohio State Athletic Commission has provided Barnett a license, the fight is on.

Josh Barnett has not been able to re-secure a license in the state of California after he failed a pre-fight drug test in 2009. He has been able to fight in Texas and Australia since then, but his status as a licensed fighter has been a concern since the 2009 incident.

Executive Director of the Ohio State Athletic Commission Bernie Profato stated that as long as Josh Barnett could pass his pre-fight drug test he would issue him his license. Barnett cooperated with the commission “110 percent” and passed the test. In a recent interview with MMAJunkie, Profato stated, “We’re satisfied that he’s clean, as far as coming into the fight, and we’re going to test all four of [the grand-prix fighters] plus a couple of random fights at the event.”

Jon Kirschner is a young writer from New Jersey who watches mixed martial arts and kickboxing from around the world. Kirschner has been following MMA since 1998 and has been writing about it for 5 years. His work has appeared on Fox Sports and in SCRAPP! Fight Magazine.