Josh Barnett Will Return To Action In August with Metamoris Bout Against Dean Lister

Josh Barnett was long-hailed as one of the best active heavyweights outside the UFC; ‘Warmaster’ lived up to his name in crushing guys like Pedro Rizzo, Mighty Mo, Mark Hunt. Aleks Emelianenko and many more. His long awaited return to the UFC was a first round TKO against Frank Mir, followed by a frist round knockout by elbows loss to Travis Browne.

So what’s next for the Pride FC veteran? Well, aside from calling out ex-heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos, it looks like the former IBJJF champion is going back to his grappling roots. This, according to his manager Leland Lebarre, who released the following statement to MMAFighting.com, confirming that Barnett will face Dean Lister at Metamoris 4:

“This is a non-striking event designed to be a test prior to going full speed and hopefully getting back into the cage soon,”

Inactive since breaking his orbital bone against ‘Hapa, and a subsequent knee injury, it looks like this is essentially a tune up match for the big show. His scheduled opponent for the August match is none other than fellow UFC and pride veteran Dean Lister.

A second degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and a three time ADCC medalist (two gold), ‘Mr. Fister’ is certainly a world class practitioner. The Fabio Santos BJJ product has notable ADCC wins over Nate Marquardt, Ilir Latifi and the legendary Jean Jacques Machado to name a few.

It’s worth noting that in 19 MMA fights, and 29 grappling bouts, Lister has not been finished once. A tough challenge for any fighter on the mat, does Barnett have what it takes to become the first guy to finish ‘The Boogeyman’?