Stuart Barnard - Big Country

Stuart Barnard grew up training and competing in the world of martial arts. His martial arts training began around seven years old. He began training in Judo under the influence of Gord Tapp and other world class Judo players at Sho Jin Judo Club. He received his Judo black belt at 18. Shortly after this time, Stuart watched Karo Parisyan throw Diego Sanchez with a no-gi throw and he was hooked. It was at this moment that Stuart decided to explore other disciplines and branch out to MMA. Farid Sahelgozin (Mariposa Wrestling), a long-time friend and respected Wrestling coach, helped Stuart adapt his judo grips for no-gi. Farid introduced Stuart to UFC and Pride fighter Gary Goodridge, which opened many doors for him. With a sprinkle of striking and strong judo foundation built by years of training, Stuart was invited to join a local Pro MMA Team. This allowed him to travel around to various well-established clubs and train with local up-and-coming MMA fighters, professional kickboxers as well as high level Jiu Jitsu competitors. In these travels Stuart met and trained with several notable martial artists, Joel Gerson (RevMMA owner) Carlos Newton (UFC fighter), Fernando Zulick “Gringo” (Action and Reaction MMA owner) , Luke Harris (UFC fighter/ Hayabusa training center owner), Kyle Nelson (UFC fighter).

While training for an amateur MMA match, cornerman Fred Kitchen introduced Stuart to Nic Langman, National Canadian Sanda Champion. Nic later opened Black Lotus kickboxing Academy, where Stuart sharpened his kickboxing skills, and was later introduced to Professor Pat Cooligan (Canada's first Renzo Gracie black belt). In 2019 Stuart began training for competitive Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. While training and teaching at Black Lotus Academy, Stuart was invited to travel to Pat Cooligans Academy in Orlando. After a week of rigorous training with world class sport BJJ competitors (meeting UFC fighter Jacare Souza), Stuart technically still a white belt, was entered as a blue belt for his first BJJ tournament. After successfully winning his first tournament, Pat Cooligan promoted Stuart to Blue belt. Training was put on hold due to Covid-19 shutdowns. After almost 2 years of not training, Stuart is ready to be back on the mats. Long time friend and training partner John Denomme began training at Big Country MMA in Bracebridge. After mentioning Stuart’s name, Big Country MMA owner Joe Elliot invited him to come and check out the club. Stuart immediately realized that it was a perfect fit for him and he can’t wait to see what the future of Big Country MMA has in store. Stuart is a father to a spunky two-year-old and another child on the way. He enjoys spending time with his family and friends. He is looking forward to training his own children in the future.