Josh Barnett

By FCF Staff

The Ultimate Fighting Championship has unveiled plans for a new reality based show, and Josh Barnett and Roy Nelson will be steering the program’s ship.

The promotion has announced that “Road to UFC: Japan” will feature eight Japanese fighters who will compete for a contract with the organization. The program will begin airing in July, and Nelson and Barnett will be the coaches. The heavyweights will fight in a five round, bout which will headline a card on September 27th at the Saitama Super Arena. That card will also feature a fight between the show’s two finalists.

Executive Vice President and General Manager, UFC Asia, Ken Berger was quoted saying in the official announcement: “We are very happy to be bringing our live event to the Saitama Super Arena once again this year. There is a rich and diverse MMA talent in Japan and we’re positive that through ROAD TO UFC: JAPAN, we will uncover more UFC prospects. We have recently witnessed the fast power of Kyoji Horiguchi in the Octagon® against flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson and it really is only a matter of time before we see a champion emerge from Japan.”

No information regarding the show’s contestants was released.

Barnett (33-7) will be fighting for the first time since last December, when he was knocked out by Travis Browne.

Nelson (20-11), meanwhile, is coming off a decision loss to Alistair Overeem in March.