Former UFC Champion Announced For Josh Barnett's Bloodsport Bushido In Japan
Josh Barnett has announced former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Davey Boy Smith Jr., Davit Modzmanashvili, Kazushi Sakuraba, Masakatsu Funaki, and Mike O'Hearn will join him and Minoru Suzuki in competing at Bloodsport Bushido on June 22. This will be the 11th Bloodsport event following Bloodsport X next month, which will notably feature WWE star Shayna Baszler.
「Bloodsport Bushido」６.２２(土)両国大会、追加出場選手発表！
元PRIDE戦士ランペイジ、スミスJr、レスリングの猛者、超人気ボディビルダーが参戦！
桜庭・船木の出場も決定！
☆出場選手トレーラー映像公開https://t.co/btQIcqIgXR
☆３月２９日（金)... pic.twitter.com/wWfmlIjVYX
— Bloodsport Bushido【公式】 (@JBBloodsport_JP) March 28, 2024
Jackson brings a wealth of MMA experience having been the world champion in UFC and PRIDE, alongside pioneers Sakuraba and Funaki. Jackson wrestled for TNA in 2013 and retired from MMA after his 2019 loss to Fedor Emelianenko, though he has said he will be boxing Shannon Briggs in the summer. Modzmanashvili is a Georgian amateur wrestler — competing for Uzbekistan since 2017 — stripped of his silver medal at the London 2012 Olympic Games after testing positive for the banned substance dehydrochlormethyltestosterone after samples were retested in 2019. He is still serving a six-year ban from the sport. O'Hearn is a former actor and bodybuilder who starred as "Titan" from the 2000s reboot of the "American Gladiators" TV series.
Bloodsport Bushido will be the second event staged this year after Bloodsport X, with each show receiving its own unique flavor of MMA-wrestling fusion. Josh Barnett has further teased that more WWE names, including the likes of CM Punk and Chad Gable, and even AEW's Malakai Black have had discussions about coming to Bloodsport. So fans can likely expect more names to be announced for Bloodsport X and Bushido in the coming weeks.