Andrei Arlovski vs. Josh Barnett signed for UFC Germany return

A battle of former UFC heavyweight champions was announced as the main event for UFC’s return to Germany.

Andrei Arlovski (25-12) will face Josh Barnett (34-8) in the main event on 9/3 in Hamburg, Germany at the Barclaycard Arena. The event will be broadcast on UFC Fight Pass with a 2 pm eastern main card start time.

While both are long-term veterans of the sport, they have never faced each other in the past.  Arlovski was back in title contention with a six-fight winning streak until losing his last two fights via knockout, a quick loss to new champion Stipe Miocic, and a knockout loss to next title contender Alistair Overeem.

Barnett suffered a shocking loss to Ben Rothwell on the January FOX show.  While losing to Rothwell isn’t shocking, Barnett lost via submission, and Barnett was considered one of the best submission heavyweights in the world, having never lost via submission in MMA competition (he submitted once due to shoulder injury against Mirko Cro Cop, but never to an actually submission move), and, when facing some of the best grapplers in the world in grappling matches, he hadn’t lost via submission in more than 15 year, since a 2000 match with Ricardo Almeida, and from a skill standpoint, that wasn’t even the same guy.

Barnett is also a pro wrestler in Japan, although has not done pro wrestling in 17 months.