Mansour Barnaoui (born September 20, 1992) is a Tunisian-Frenchmixed martial artist who competes in theLightweight division ofPFL.

Residing nowadays inMalakoff, Hauts-de-Seine, Mansour was born inTunis,Tunisia, immigrating to France as an infant, where he lived in difficult circumstances and sharing a small apartment with his three brothers and his mother. Faradji, friend and manager of Mansour, met Barnaoui when he lived in the same building as him and saw him squatting in the hall with friends, after they were unable to afford to register at the nearby wrestling room inVanves. Faradji went to the town hall of Malakoff to ask for slots in a municipal hall, and after he was granted access, a few weeks later, the small band of Malakoff could finally train at the municipal gymnasium and the Magnum club was born. Aziz Mahi, Barnaoui's trainer in France, welcomed him to his gymnasium in the suburbs of Paris when he was only 14 years old. He quickly understood that he had the makings of a champion and went from grappling, to boxing, to pankration and then to train MMA^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

When he was younger, Barnaoui would skateboard and emulateYamakasi parkour, earning the nickname Tarzan from the neighborhood grown-ups. Likewise, due to his immigration status, Mansour is not a French citizen due to the nature of his arrival to France. This means that all of his MMA contracts need to be signed outside of the country.^[7][3]

A longtime product of Team Magnum MMA in Paris, France, the ‘Afro-Samurai’ got his start in the hybrid-MMA promotion 100% Fight, back before full-rules mixed martial arts had been legalized in the country. A 6-0 run early in his pro career was halted by a loss to future UFC top contenderKevin Lee during Instinct MMA 4 in Canada. After rebounding with a first round TKO stoppage at SHC 7, Cage Warriors approached Barnaoui and offered him a fight againstConor McGregor. The organizers were offering the fight between the two on the condition that Mansour signed a two-year contract with them. However, Mansour chose to instead sign withM-1 Global as the promotion was offering 10,000 and 15,000 euros per fight compared to the 2000 to 3000 euros at theCage Warriors.^[8]

A few days before his first fight for M-1 on April 9, 2013 at M-1 Challenge 38, against future UFC championIslam Makhachev, Mansour's father died. However, he decided to still fight and lost a hard fought bout via unanimous decision.^[8]

Rebounding against Zulfikar Usmanov at M-1 Challenge 41, he submitted Usmanov via rear-naked choke in the third round. The Tunisian continued his momentum by winning a belt in another European organization,BAMMA, winning theBAMMA World Lightweight Championship and defending it against UFC vetsCurt Warburton andColin Fletcher.^[8]

Returning to M-1, Barnaoui won theM-1 Lightweight Championship against Maxim Divnich at M-1 Challenge 57, defeating Divnich via TKO stoppage after dropping him with a knee at the end of the first round and finishing him with ground and pound. Dropping down to Featherweight for the first and only time in his career for a chance for theM-1 Featherweight Championship against Ivan Buchinger at M-1 Challenge 62, Mansour lost the bout via unanimous decision.^[8]

On May 27, 2016, atKSW 35, he fought for the vacantKSW Lightweight Championship belt against future UFC fighterMateusz Gamrot.^[9] He lost the bout via unanimous decision.^[10]

In his next bout for the promotion, Barnaoui faced Łukasz Chlewicki on December 3, 2016, atKSW 37. He won the bout via doctor stoppage in the first round.^[11]

In the International Trials, he defeated Won Bin Ki atRoad FC 038 by the way of first-round rear-naked choke, earning a spot in theRoad Fighting Championship's 16-manRoad FC $1 Million Dollar Lightweight Tournament.

In the opening round, Barnaoui faced Chang Hyun Kim atRoad FC 040 on July 15, 2017, winning by the way of first round rear-naked choke. In the quarterfinals, he faced Nandin-Erdene Munguntsooj atRoad FC 044 on November 11, 2017, where earned another submission victory via rear-naked choke, this time in the second round. In the semifinals, Barnanoui faced Kota Shimoishi atRoad FC 046 on March 10, 2018, where he submitted Shimoishi with a rear-naked choke in the third round to earn his way into the tournament final.^[12] In the final atRoad FC 052 on February 23, 2019, Barnaoui facedKhabib's cousin,Shamil Zavurov, knocking him out with a highlight flying knee in the third round.^[13][14]

On May 18, 2019, atRoad FC 053. Barnaoui won the $1 million dollar prize and theRoad FC Lightweight Championship against A Sol Kwon, submitting Kwon in the first round via rear-naked choke.^[15][16]

During the next three years in the pandemic, the snowboarding enthusiast escaped to the mountains whenever he could and due to the pandemic restrictions shutting down his base camp at the Jacques-Duclos gymnasium in Malakoff, he went to train in Dubai, one of the few accessible places with open rooms. He also trained in Thailand and spent six months in Las Vegas, at the 10th Planet and Xtreme Couture, where he was able to train against many talented fighters from the top promotions.^[17]

In June 2022, Barnaoui signed an exclusive multi-fight deal withBellator MMA.^[2][18]

Barnaoui made his promotional debut headliningBellator 287 on October 29, 2022, againstAdam Piccolotti.^[19][20] He won the bout in a very dominant fashion, finishing Piccolotti in the second round via rear-naked choke.^[21]

On January 11, 2023, Barnaoui was announced as one of the 8 participants in the $1 millionBellator Lightweight World Grand Prix.^[22] Barnaoui was scheduled to faceSidney Outlaw on May 12, 2023, atBellator 296.^[23] However at the end of February, Outlaw tested positive for banned substances and was suspended, resulting in him being replaced by the alternate,Brent Primus.^[24] Barnaoui lost the back-and-forth bout by unanimous decision.^[25]

Barnaoui faced Jay-Jay Wilson on September 23, 2023, atBellator 299.^[26] He lost the fight by unanimous decision.^[27]

Barnaoui faced Yusuke Yachi on May 17, 2024 atBellator Champions Series 2.^[28] He won the fight by a brado choke submission in the first round.^[29]

Barnaoui faced Alfie Davis on November 29, 2024, atPFL 10.^[30] He won the fight via a rear-naked choke submission in the third round.^[31]

• Road Fighting Championship
  • Road FC Lightweight Championship (One time)
  • Road FC $1 Million Dollar Lightweight Tournament 'Road To A-Sol'
• M-1 Global
  • M-1 Lightweight Championship (One time)
• BAMMA
  • BAMMA World Lightweight Championship (One time)
    • One successful title defense
• 100% Fight
  • 100% Fight Lightweight Championship (One time)

^[32]

• List of current Bellator MMA fighters
• List of male mixed martial artists

• Professional MMA record for Mansour Barnaoui fromSherdog
• Mansour Barnaoui atBellator

• 1992 births
• Living people
• Tunisian male mixed martial artists
• French male mixed martial artists
• Lightweight mixed martial artists
• Mixed martial artists utilizing boxing
• Mixed martial artists utilizing pankration
• Bellator male fighters
• Martial artists from Tunis
• 21st-century French sportsmen

• CS1 French-language sources (fr)
• CS1 Canadian French-language sources (fr-ca)
• CS1 Polish-language sources (pl)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Bellator template with ID not in Wikidata