Barnett vs Markes Betting Preview – Josh Barnett’s Bellator Debut on Dec 20

Former UFC heavyweight champion, Josh Barnett is finally going to make his promotional debut on Bellator. He is going to face fellow UFC fighter Rony Markes on Dec 20, 2019, at Bellator’s Salute the Troops event at Honolulu, Hawaii. Let’s see their chances in this Barnett vs Markes Betting Preview.

Bellator is dedicating the event to the brave man and women of the US Armed Forces. This is going to be Barnett’s first return to MMA since 2016.

“Warmaster” Josh Barnett – Former UFC champion

Warmaster won his UFC title in 2002 against Randy Couture. He won the fight via TKO and became the youngest UFC champion ever. Unfortunately, he tested positive to some banned substances for the second time and was stripped from his title. As we could know from online sportsbook news in the US, after his last fight against Andrei Arlovski, Barnett was failing a drug test conducted by the U.S. Anty-doping agency. Barnett was the first fighter in the history of UFC to be exonerated after it turned out that the test was a result of a contaminated supplement. Hopefully, this factor doesn’t change the odds.

Barnett vs Markes betting preview – Veterans will face each-other

While Ronny Markes is a professional fighter since 2007, Barnett was entering first to UFC in 2001.  Markes has a history of 26 fights including 3 wins at UFC. Although he spent most of his career in middleweight, now he is going to move up and add one more serious name to his list of oppositions.  Ronny Markes is coming after a PFL victory in June. However, Barnett didn’t fight in MMA since 2016 he didn’t remain silent during all this time.

Second-degree Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt

I’d like to point out in this Barnett vs Markes betting preview, that it’s very important to know what a fighter is doing between two fights. Online gambling sites in the US tend to create their odds collecting all these pieces of information. Since 2016 Barnett is still determinative in the world of martial arts. He is having a second-degree Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt and he is competing on a regular basis in Jiu-Jitsu events. He also promoting and performing on his own professional wrestling events. 

As bookies favorize the Warmaster it’s worth to think about Markes’ late weight miss and the heavyweight version of him.  

You can check out the odds here at 1xBet.