Josh Barnett

Joshua Lawrence Barnett (born November 10, 1977) is an American mixed martial artist and professional wrestler who competes in the heavyweight division of the UFC where he is a former UFC Heavyweight Champion. He is the first and current Metamoris Heavyweight Champion. He has also won the King of Pancrase Openweight Championship and was a finalist in the PRIDE 2006 Openweight Grand Prix and the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix Championship. Barnett claims a mixed martial arts record of "over 50-7" when both sanctioned and unsanctioned bouts are counted. He has also competed in Affliction, DREAM and Impact FC.

As of January 26, 2016, he is #8 in the official UFC heavyweight rankings.

Background

Born and raised in Seattle, Washington, Barnett had a troubled childhood and often got into fights. He was put into anger management programs at a young age and learned to cope with his anger by participating in athletics. Barnett attended Ballard High School, where he excelled at wrestling, football, and also trained in kickboxing. After seeing UFC 4 as a sophomore, he decided that he wanted to be a mixed martial arts fighter. Barnett had originally attended the University of Montana to play football for the school as a walk-on, but decided not to play the sport for the university. At the recommendation of an instructor at Montana, Barnett went to train at the dojo of Jim Harrison. Although he did not have the money for classes, he received training in exchange for helping with maintenance and labor at the dojo.

Triple 8

Triple 8 (aka 888) were a five-piece hip-hop style British boy band, who were signed to Polydor Records. The group were promoted as the British equivalent of 'N Sync, and rivals to manufactured boy bands such as Westlife and A1.

The group had two successful singles: "Knockout" and "Give Me a Reason", which charted at number 8 and 9 respectively in the UK Singles Chart. The group parted company with their record label in 2004, leaving their album, Heavy W8, unreleased. In 2005, they reformed with new member Stewart Macintosh, and released a third single, "Good 2 Go", which only reached number 42. McIntosh replaced Iain James Farquharson.

Members

The group had originally made up of:

Iain James Farquharson left the band in 2004 after losing most of his hair to male pattern baldness and was replaced by:

After break-up

After Triple 8, Iain James Farquharson, now known as Iain James, subsequently worked with many of the UK's major pop/R&B acts, such as Emeli Sandé, Little Mix and One Direction. He also co-wrote "Running Scared" by Eldar & Nigar. In 2013, he co-penned "Love Kills" which was performed by Roberto Bellarosa, The Belgian Voice winner, in 2013 representing Belgium. It qualified for the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 final placing 12th in Malmö.