Josh Barnett targeting a fight against Junior dos Santos

Josh Barnett isn't looking for the UFC to lob him a softball following his vicious KO loss to Travis Browne at UFC 168.

According to a report by MMAFighting's Ariel Helwani, Barnett is looking to engage in a little ultra-violence with No. 2 heavyweight Junior dos Santos.

"To get a shot at title, you would have to go through Junior sooner or later," Barnett's manager, Leland Lebarre, told Helwani on UFC Tonight. "So let's get it done now. This is the path back to the title."

Barnett, who originally left the UFC following a win over Randy Couture in 2002 (he was stripped of his heavyweight title after testing positive for banned substances), plied his trade all over the world, collecting wins over the likes of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Sergei Kharitonov and Mark Hunt, before returning to the UFC in 2013.

Dos Santos, a former heavyweight champion in his own right, finds himself re-climbing the heavyweight ladder after suffering his second loss to champion Cain Velasquez at UFC 166. A win over Barnett could jump-start "Cigano"'s arduous trek toward a fourth title fight against his nemesis from the American Kickboxing Academy.