# Luke Barnatt

Luke Barnatt (born 13 April 1988) is an English mixed martial artist who fought as a middleweight for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He was a member of FX's The Ultimate Fighter: Team Jones vs. Team Sonnen, and has also competed for BAMMA, UCMMA, ACA and RXF. At 6' 6" Barnatt is one of the tallest fighters currently competing in his weight class. Barnatt received his nickname "Bigslow" from brothers John Maguire and Tommy Maguire, for his size and being slow in response to their jokes and insults.

## Background

Barnatt was born in Redbridge, London and moved to Islington at the age of one and then Chelmsford at the age of ten. At the age of 16, Barnatt would move to Peterborough. Barnatt began playing many sports from a young age, including basketball, cricket, and track and field. At the age of 15, Barnatt began training in Tae Kwon Do but only achieved the rank of yellow belt before giving it up. Later on, Barnatt was introduced to wrestling by professional mixed martial arts fighter Jack Mason at Tsunami Shooters MMA.

## Mixed martial arts career
### The Ultimate Fighter

Barnatt had a record of 5-0 before being selected as a member of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Jones vs. Team Sonnen In January 2013. Barnatt defeated Nicholas Kohring by decision to qualify the TUF house. During the choosing of teams, he was the first pick of Chael Sonnen of Team Sonnen and the first pick overall.
Barnatt defeated Gilbert Smith, Jr. in the preliminary round via second-round knockout, but was eliminated in the quarter-finals by Dylan Andrews.

### Ultimate Fighting Championship

Barnatt made his UFC debut against fellow Ultimate Fighter castmate Collin Hart on 13 April 2013 at The Ultimate Fighter 17 Finale and won the fight via unanimous decision.
Barnatt faced Andrew Craig on 26 October 2013 at UFC Fight Night: Machida vs. Munoz and won the fight via submission in the second round. The fight also earned Barnatt his first Fight of the Night bonus award.
Barnatt faced promotional newcomer Mats Nilsson at UFC Fight Night 37 and won the fight via TKO due to strikes in the first round.
Barnatt faced Sean Strickland on 31 May 2014 at UFC Fight Night 41 and lost the fight by a split decision. 11 out of 11 media outlets scored the bout for Barnatt.
Barnatt faced Roger Narvaez on 22 November 2014 at UFC Fight Night 57 and lost the fight via split decision.
Barnatt was expected to face Clint Hester on 4 April 2015 at UFC Fight Night 63. However, Hester pulled out of the fight in early March due to a broken foot. Subsequently, Barnatt was pulled from the card entirely in favor of a matchup with Mark Muñoz on 16 May 2015 at UFC Fight Night 66. He lost the fight by unanimous decision and was subsequently released from the promotion.

### Post-UFC; Independent promotions

Barnatt fought for Italian promotion Venator FC against Mattia Schiavolin on 12 December 2015 at Venator FC 2 in a fight for the promotions middleweight championship. He took the title by winning the fight by submission due to a rear-naked choke in the fourth round.
He was expected to face Rafael Silva on 20 February 2016 at British Challenge MMA 14. However his opponent was later changes to be Charles Andrade. He won the fight by knockout after dropping his opponent to the canvas with a right hand, 11 seconds into round 3.
Barnatt was expected to defend his Venator middleweight championship against fellow UFC veteran Jason Miller on 21 May 2016 at Venator FC 3. However, Miller missed weight by an amount of 24 lbs, as a result of this Miller was removed from the matchup against Barnatt and replaced by Stefan Croitoru. Barnatt won the fight, and defended the title, by TKO in round 2.
He fought Cristian Mitrea, in a light heavyweight match-up, on 19 December 2016 at RXF 25: All Stars in Romania. After stunning his opponent by punches and knees up against the fence, Barnatt landed a head kick to earn the knockout victory, 3 minutes into the first round.

### Absolute Championship Berkut

Barnatt faced Mamed Khalidov on 11 March 2017 at ACB 53. He lost the fight via knockout in the first round.
Luke fought Scott Askham on 23 September 2017 in the main event at ACB 70. He lost the fight by split decision and earned fight of the night bonus. He went 2-3 overall before the promotion changed names from ACB to ACA- Absolute Championship Akhmat and went 1-4 in his last 5 and retired in 2020.

## Championships and accomplishments

* Ultimate Fighting Championship
** Fight of the Night (One time) vs. Andrew Craig
* Venator FC
** VFC Middleweight Championship (One time)
** One successful title defense

## Mixed martial arts record

Professional record breakdown :
| 25 matches | 15 wins | 10 losses |
| By knockout | 9 | 3 |
| By submission | 4 | 1 |
| By decision | 2 | 6 |
| Res. | Record | Opponent | Method | Event | Date | Round | Time | Location | Notes |
| Loss | 15–10 | Evgeniy Egemberdiev | KO (punch) | ACA 115: Ismailov vs. Shtyrkov | 13 December 2020 | 1 | 3:46 | Moscow, Russia | |
| Loss | 15–9 | Karol Celiński | Decision (unanimous) | ACA 109: Strus vs. Haratyk | 20 August 2020 | 3 | 5:00 | Łódź, Poland | |
| Loss | 15–8 | Cory Hendricks | Submission (rear-naked choke) | ACA 102: Tumenov vs. Ushukov | 29 November 2019 | 2 | 4:16 | Almaty, Kazakhstan | |
| Win | 15–7 | Karol Celiński | KO (punch) | ACA 96: Goncharov vs. Johnson | 8 June 2019 | 1 | 1:29 | Łódź, Poland | |
| Loss | 14–7 | Jorge Gonzalez | KO (punches) | ACA 92: Yagshimuradov vs. Celiński | 16 February 2019 | 1 | 3:05 | Warsaw, Poland | |
| Loss | 14–6 | Karol Celiński | Decision (majority) | ACB 88: Barnatt vs. Celiński | 16 June 2018 | 3 | 5:00 | Brisbane, Australia | |
| Win | 14–5 | Maxim Futin | TKO (knees and punches) | ACB 81: Saidov vs. Carneiro | 23 February 2018 | 2 | 3:27 | Dubai, United Arab Emirates | Light Heavyweight bout. |
| Loss | 13–5 | Scott Askham | Decision (split) | ACB 70: The Battle of Britain | 23 September 2017 | 3 | 5:00 | Sheffield, England | Fight of the Night. |
| Win | 13–4 | Max Nunes | KO (punch) | ACB 63: Celiński vs. Magalhaes | 1 July 2017 | 1 | 4:08 | Gdańsk, Poland | Light Heavyweight bout. |
| Loss | 12–4 | Mamed Khalidov | KO (punches) | ACB 54: Supersonic | 11 March 2017 | 1 | 0:21 | Manchester, England | |
| Win | 12–3 | Cristian Mitrea | KO (head kick) | RXF 25: All Stars | 19 December 2016 | 1 | 3:00 | Ploiești, Romania | Light Heavyweight bout. |
| Win | 11–3 | Stefan Croitoru | TKO (knees and punches) | Venator FC 3 | 21 May 2016 | 2 | 2:32 | Milan, Italy | Defended the VFC Middleweight Championship. |
| Win | 10–3 | Charles Andrade | KO (punch) | British Challenge MMA 14 | 20 February 2016 | 3 | 0:11 | Colchester, England | |
| Win | 9–3 | Mattia Schiavolin | Submission (rear-naked choke) | Venator FC 2 | 12 December 2015 | 4 | 1:46 | Rimini, Italy | Won the VFC Middleweight Championship. |
| Loss | 8–3 | Mark Muñoz | Decision (unanimous) | UFC Fight Night: Edgar vs. Faber | 16 May 2015 | 3 | 5:00 | Pasay, Philippines | |
| Loss | 8–2 | Roger Narvaez | Decision (split) | UFC Fight Night: Edgar vs. Swanson | 22 November 2014 | 3 | 5:00 | Austin, Texas, United States | |
| Loss | 8–1 | Sean Strickland | Decision (split) | UFC Fight Night: Munoz vs. Mousasi | 31 May 2014 | 3 | 5:00 | Berlin, Germany | |
| Win | 8–0 | Mats Nilsson | TKO (head kick and punches) | UFC Fight Night: Gustafsson vs. Manuwa | 8 March 2014 | 1 | 4:24 | London, England | |
| Win | 7–0 | Andrew Craig | Submission (rear-naked choke) | UFC Fight Night: Machida vs. Munoz | 26 October 2013 | 2 | 2:12 | Manchester, England | Fight of the Night |
| Win | 6–0 | Collin Hart | Decision (unanimous) | The Ultimate Fighter: Team Jones vs. Team Sonnen Finale | 13 April 2013 | 3 | 5:00 | Las Vegas, Nevada, United States | |
| Win | 5–0 | Matteo Piran | TKO (punches) | Ultimate Warrior Challenge 20 | 1 September 2012 | 1 | 4:17 | Southend-on-Sea, England | |
| Win | 4–0 | Chris Harman | Submission (rear-naked choke) | UCMMA 28 | 26 May 2012 | 1 | 3:43 | London, England | |
| Win | 3–0 | Lee Johnson | Submission (rear-naked choke) | BAMMA 9 | 24 March 2012 | 1 | 2:36 | Birmingham, England | |
| Win | 2–0 | Ben Callum | Decision (unanimous) | UCMMA 26 | 4 February 2012 | 3 | 5:00 | London, England | |
| Win | 1–0 | Chris Greig | TKO (punches) | Cage Fighters Championship | 24 September 2011 | 2 | 2:11 | Brentwood, England | |

### Mixed martial arts exhibition record

| Exhibition record breakdown | Exhibition record breakdown | |
| 3 matches | 2 wins | 1 loss |
| By knockout | 1 | 1 |
| By decision | 1 | 0 |
| Res. | Record | Opponent | Method | Event | Date | Round | Time | Location | Notes |
| Loss | 2-1 | Dylan Andrews | TKO (punches) | The Ultimate Fighter: Team Jones vs. Team Sonnen | 26 March 2013 (airdate) | 3 | 1:57 | Las Vegas, Nevada, United States | The Ultimate Fighter: Team Jones vs. Team Sonnen Quarter-final round; Fight of the season |
| Win | 2-0 | Gilbert Smith | KO (flying knee) | The Ultimate Fighter: Team Jones vs. Team Sonnen | 29 January 2013 (airdate) | 2 | 3:14 | Las Vegas, Nevada, United States | The Ultimate Fighter: Team Jones vs. Team Sonnen Preliminary round |
| Win | 1–0 | Nicholas Kohring | Decision (unanimous) | The Ultimate Fighter: Team Jones vs. Team Sonnen | 22 January 2013 (airdate) | 2 | 5:00 | Las Vegas, Nevada, United States | The Ultimate Fighter: Team Jones vs. Team Sonnen Elimination round |