Antonio 'Bigfoot' Silva calls out fellow UFC heavyweight Josh Barnett

Antonio Silva is clearly angling for a UFC fight with fellow veteran heavyweight Josh Barnett, though it appears to be doing little good.

Silva (18-5 MMA, 2-2 UFC) fired the latest salvo with a tweet earlier today. Although “Bigfoot” didn’t mention Barnett (33-7 MMA, 5-2 UFC) by name, it was obvious the message was directed at the former UFC heavyweight champion.

quack quack quack!Sounds like a duck to me.Let me hand you your 2nd loss straight,and it'll free up more time for pro wrestling and podcasts—
Antonio Pezao Silva (@BigfootSilva) June 24, 2014

That tweet came a half-day after Barnett, who’s dabbled in pro wrestling, posted a plug for his new podcast:

Tomorrow at 9am PT the first episode of my podcast goes out on iTunes, SoundCloud, & FOXSports.com. Josh Barnett Conquers The World—
Josh Barnett (@JoshLBarnett) June 24, 2014

The tweets followed a long-simmering feud between the two fighters, which first developed during their days in Strikeforce. Silva, via MMAFighting.com, recently called for a fight with Barnett, which didn’t exactly do much to persuade the “Warmaster.”

“”For me, I’m not trying to help this guy out,” Barnett told the website. “… I don’t like him, and I don’t like the way he approached anything about what he did back in his Strikeforce days and all of that. I had never even talked about this dude. He brought up all this stuff, made this huge kerfuffle, so my response is: F him. I’m not going to help him gain any ground in any way, even by losing to me. I’m not going to get him paid. I’m not going to going to get him anything, if I can help it.”

Barnett, who hasn’t fought since a knockout loss to Travis Browne in December, will compete in the Metamoris 4 grappling tournament/event next month and hopes to return to the MMA cage later this year. Silva, meanwhile, is serving a nine-month suspension after he tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone following a draw (which later became a no-contest on Silva’s record) with Mark Hunt in December.

Silva is ranked No. 4 and Barnett is No. 6 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA heavyweight rankings.

For more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: Antonio Silva)