Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Josh Barnett has announced six additional names for Bloodsport’s first foray into Japan on 22 June at Ryogoku Kokugikan.
Barnett and fellow MMA and pro wrestling legend Minoru Suzuki were revealed as the first participants during the launch press conference in February for ‘Bloodsport ‘Bushido’ which will be held at the world-famous home of sumo.
PRIDE FC legend and former UFC Light Heavyweight champion Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson will make his Bloodsport bow.
Jackson, who had a brief run with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in 2013 and wrestled once for them in a 10-man tag team match, was one of the most popular foreign fighters in PRIDE history.
The American fan favourite, who enjoyed a six-fight winning-streak in PRIDE from 2002-2003 as he stopped household names such as Igor Vovchanchyn, Kevin Randleman and Chuck Liddell to earn superstar status in Japan, makes his boxing debut against former WBO Heavyweight Champion Shannon Briggs in Qatar, three weeks before entering Bloodsport Bushido.
Jackson has not competed in Japan since his 2019 loss to Fedor Emelianenko in Bellator.
The Gracie Hunter Kazushi Sakuraba and former King of Pancrase Masakatsu Funaki will both compete at Ryogoku.
Sakuraba, like Barnett, is a protégé of Billy Robinson while Funaki and his co-Pancrase founder Suzuki trained under Karl Gotch in the early 1990s in Florida.
Sakuraba returned to his roots and pro wrestling in 2019 for Pro Wrestling NOAH after calling time on his MMA career.
The UFC Hall of Famer has also been competing in his own grappling promotion QUINTET in Japan.
Former AJPW Triple Crown champion Funaki lost to Barnett in a GHC Martial Arts rules match in NOAH last year and has remained active in the independent circuit this year as a freelancer.
Bloodsport mainstay Davey Boy Smith Jr. has also received the call to return to his second home of Japan.
Former WWE Tag Team Champion Smith, the son of the late British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith, has wrestled in Japan since 2005 for NJPW and NOAH and will wrestle in this year’s AJPW Champion Carnival tournament which opens in April.
Smith Jr. has a 6-1 winning record in Bloodsport with victories over Killer Kross, Tom Lawlor, Josh Alexander, Calvin Tankman, KTB and JR Kratos. The Canada-born heavyweight’s sole blemish on his Bloodsport record is a loss to Jon Moxley at Bloodsport 5 in 2021.
The reigning MLW World Tag Team Champion (with Tom Lawlor) is known as a student of the game and a catch-as-catch-can wrestling fanatic who has won multiple no-gi grappling competitions.
Former Asian Games freestyle wrestling champion Davit Modzmanashvili (125kg) will make his pro wrestling debut at Bloodsport Bushido.
Modzmanashvili is currently banned by United World Wrestling, the world governing body for the Olympic sport, following a positive test after the re-analysis of his sample from the 2012 London Olympics.
The Tbilisi native originally claimed silver in London but was disqualified and had his medal removed in 2019.
Modzmanashvili, who first tested positive for a banned substance after winning the European Championships in 2008, switched allegiance to represent Uzbekistan in 2017 and won the Asian Championships for them in 2018.
The super heavyweight, now 38, is unlikely to wrestle again at the elite level as his ban runs until October 2, 2026.
The sixth and final name added to the Bloodsport Bushido roster is arguably the most surprising in Bloodsport history.
American bodybuilder and former ‘Gladiator’ Mike O'Hearn, 55, who was a heavyweight wrestler at high school, will be in action.
The long-time actor and personal trainer was close to signing with the WWE in 1992 and was on the radar of WCW for whom he briefly appeared in a cross-over promotion while starring in Gladiators-style TV show Battle Dome.
O’Hearn, who was the only ‘Gladiator’ to appear in both the original American series (1989–1996) and the 2008 reboot, welcomed Barnett onto his podcast show last year.
Confirmed to compete at Bloodsport Bushido:
Josh Barnett
Minoru Suzuki
Kazushi Sakuraba Masakatsu Funaki
Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson
Davey Boy Smith Jr. Mike O’Hearn Davit Modzmanashvil
The second round of ticket sales starts on Friday 29 March from 12:00 noon on the Rakuten website. Click here for more.
Comments