Josh Barnett Calls Out Bully Ray After Ray’s Trash Talk Directed at Jon Moxley

Former UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett has inserted himself into the brewing beef between Bully Ray and Jon Moxley — and he’s not taking Bully’s side.

Bully Ray had been making noise recently by taking shots at Moxley, who trains in jiu-jitsu, calling him a fraud and going so far as to claim he would “beat the shit” out of the AEW World Champion. It’s the kind of tough talk that tends to invite responses from people who actually have a combat sports background — and that’s exactly what happened.

Barnett, who has a history of working alongside Moxley, stepped forward and made clear that if Bully Ray is looking for a real fight, he’s got one. Barnett opened his response with “Interesting take…” before elaborating on his willingness to give Bully what he described as a legendary ass-kicking.

The contrast here is hard to ignore. Barnett is a legitimate heavyweight who captured the UFC heavyweight title in 2002 and has competed at the highest levels of both MMA and catch wrestling throughout his career. Bully Ray, a two-time WWE Tag Team Champion and decorated pro wrestling veteran, is no stranger to confrontation, but talking about fighting someone with Moxley’s jiu-jitsu training was always going to attract scrutiny from people in the combat sports world.

Whether this escalates beyond social media exchanges remains to be seen, but Barnett’s entry into the conversation raises the stakes considerably for Bully Ray’s original comments.