Josh Barnett “I Will Return”

By Dave Carpinello

After months of media silence, former UFC heavyweight champion, PRIDE superstar and the open-weight King of Pancrase champion, Josh Barnett talked with PDG about his suspension, his future, women’s mixed martial arts, video games and more.

PDG: To get started can you give the fans an update on what you have been doing since the cancellation of Affliction “Trilogy”?

Josh Barnett: I have been training and I also have been involved in some competitions.  I competed in the World Jiu-Jitsu No-Gi Championship 2009 in November and I defeated Bruno Paulista by judge’s decision in the ultra-heavyweight division.  I'm also still wrestling for the IGF and I have a match coming up pretty soon over in Tokyo on the 22nd of February.  I have been working with various fighters and training them in preparation for their upcoming fights including Shayna Baszler who has a fight coming up this Saturday in the Freestyle Cage Fighting Women’s 135 lbs Grand Prix.  It is an eight woman tournament that will span across three events; so I have definitely been keeping busy.

PDG: I know that your opinion is going to be biased because she is one of your students but how do you feel that she will do in this tournament?

Josh Barnett: I don't expect anything else other than for her to walk away from that tournament as the champion, which will lead to her return to Strikeforce where she belongs.  I think that she has the experience and that she matches up great against the other competitors in the tournament.  Although I always tell her to never take an opponent lightly, she should win this tournament.

PDG: As a coach, was it a little disappointing that after a 3-1 record in Strikeforce that they released her?

Josh Barnett: Well yeah but she was a carryover from EliteXC and she lost the fight with “Cyborg” Santos, which was a pretty difficult thing to deal with and then she came back against another very difficult opponent in Sarah Kaufman.  I felt that she was ready for the fight even though she got injured leading up to it.  She had a pretty bad ankle injury and wasn't able to spar in the weeks leading up to the fight.  I know that she had all the skills and was in great cardio shape going into the fight and it showed in the first round but she made a mistake by going for that choke and she got reversed.  I was still confident though that she would be able to pull out the victory in the end but she was unable to mentally cope with what was going on in the cage.  She got a really good paycheck for that fight because of her EliteXC contract and it was pretty clear after that fight that Strikeforce wanted to minimize that amount going forward.  After she lost that fight they had the ability to cut her and that's what they did.

PDG: I want to get your opinion on women's mixed martial arts overall; do you think it is continuing to grow or has it somewhat stalled?

Josh Barnett: I really think that the organizations that are dealing with women's MMA need to be more consistent.  There is no reason that there shouldn't be at least one woman's undercard fight and one main card fight for each event; they could do it but for some reason they just aren't doing it right now.  It is a difficult thing to deal with one and on top of that there are so many smaller and start up promotions out there that are running so-called amateur women's fights.  So many women's fights are being considered amateur even though they are going full speed, 100% with no protection.  Some of the women out there are so desperate to fight though that they are taking those fights and the promoters don't have to pay them.  There are a lot of the fighters that have numerous fights under their belt but yet they are still considered amateur and are being paid that way.  It really whittles down the pole of potential opponents for the women fighters that are considered professional.

PDG: Let's go back to your career; where do you stand as of now in the appeal process of your suspension for steroid use?

Josh Barnett: We finally got what we had been requesting from the CSAC over these past couple of months from the parties in question and our hearing was set and everybody was ready to go, then my lawyers got snowed in on the East Coast.  It has really been an unfortunate situation having to reschedule the hearing and we still haven't heard when that will be.  They may have set the date with my lawyers but I haven't heard anything yet.

PDG: You told me recently that you are negotiating with the UFC, Strikeforce and other organizations about your return; have you made any progress?

Josh Barnett: All I can say really is that these types of negotiations take time and I am just hoping to get something signed sooner than later.

PDG: Is your signing a deal with an organization contingent on when you're hearing takes place and the outcome of said hearing?

Josh Barnett: No, that only affects me in California and at this point I will be able to reapply for a license not too long down the road.  The suspension was for one year in California and it is retroactive back to July or August of last year.

PDG: So if the UFC, Strikeforce and DREAM showed up at your door with the exact same offer; do you have a preference as to which organization you would sign with?

Josh Barnett: Whoever signs their version of the contract first; I just want to be back fighting and it makes no difference to me what fighters are currently with what organization because I will end up fighting them all eventually.  Obviously the UFC has the advantage as far as exposure goes but when you are the #2 guy in the heavyweight division in the world; you want to fight the #1 fighter in the world and Fedor Emelianenko is obviously fighting for Strikeforce.  If I end up signing with Strikeforce I can also possibly fight with DREAM because they have a very good working relationship right now.

PDG: Vadim Finkelstein, Fedor’s manager recently stated that he has no interest in promoting another fight between Fedor and yourself because he does not want to risk the time and effort involved in promoting the fight in case it were to fall through again.  What are your thoughts on his comments?

Josh Barnett: I guess we will just have to see what happens.

PDG: Also, in a recent interview that I did with Bas Rutten, he stated that if the mega-fight between you and Fedor were to happen it would probably be in Japan and that some organizations may be hesitant to sign that fight because of what has happened in the past.  Some people took that as if Bas was calling you a liability.

Josh Barnett: Yeah, I know that some people took it that way, I read the interview and his comments about me but I really didn't think much of it.  It is just one man's quote from an interview that's all.  When somebody twittered me those comments my response was that Bas was right about me being a liability because I was going to be the first fighter to purposely kill somebody in the ring.  That is how seriously I took the whole situation.

PDG: There are a lot of big fights coming up in the near future including a match up next weekend between two UFC Hall of Famer's; what do you think of the UFC 109 main event between Randy Couture and Mark Coleman?

Josh Barnett: The fight is going to down to Coleman's cardio and his ability to control the fight.  If Coleman is able to control the fight and keep the action where he wants it than he is good to go.  Randy is the same kind of fighter though and he wins his fights via control and keeping his rhythm in the fight.  If he gets Coleman on his back and can keep him there successfully, which isn’t impossible but I think it is going to be a tall order for him, he will win.  If Randy can keep it on the feet though and tire Coleman out, that will be a real problem for Coleman.  Coleman is a strong puncher and he has great takedowns and he is a really good friend of mine so I always want to see him do his best.  So it would be safe to say that I am taking Coleman in this fight.

PDG: There have been several injuries to key fighters over the last 12 months; is it just a part of the sport where athletes continue to train harder or is there are some underlying aspect that is leading to the these injuries?

Josh Barnett: Shit happens and one of the situations that I am sure you are talking about is with Brock Lesnar and that was just weird.  There are anomalies like that in this world and when Shane Carwin vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira was canceled, that is just a part of the life of being a fighter.  I think that it is just pretty much a result of the normal cycle of training and preparing for fights that happens every so often.

PDG: Alright, enough with the fight stuff for right now.  What video games have you been playing lately?

Josh Barnett: Borderlands on the PS3, it was my birthday gift from Shayna and I have been cutting through the storyline on single player mode.  I did play online a little bit and noticed that you can level up a lot faster with a partner but I have primarily been sticking to playing by myself.  I have also been playing Demigod on the PC, which is a pretty good game but there's not a whole lot of depth to the game but it also has an online aspect that could be better which I have yet to play but so far the game is pretty linear.  Also Call of Duty 2 on the PC....

PDG: Do you mean Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2?

Josh Barnett: No I mean the old one, Call of Duty 2 with the World War II scenarios.  I played the first Call of Duty and now I'm on the second one just working my way up to Modern Warfare.

PDG: At this pace by the time you get to that there will be Modern Warfare 7.

Josh Barnett: Well there is always something new to learn and besides that I have an affinity for those World War II first-person shooter games.  I really loved the Medal of Honor game series.

PDG: Have you downloaded the new content for Borderlands that came out in December; Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot?

Josh Barnett: I haven't done that yet because lately I haven't always been on top of my video game playing as far as what's new and what's good because I haven't had the time.  I was looking at Steam the other day and did notice that they had downloadable content available so I just need to figure out if it's something that I need to pay for to get it on my PS3.  I've always liked the idea of expansions and downloadable content for games though because it gives you a chance to further enjoy a game that you are playing and have already put the time into.

PDG: Are there any games coming out in the first part of 2010 that you are looking forward to picking up?

Josh Barnett: I really haven't been paying too much attention to what's coming out as I used to be.  I remember when Fallout 3 was getting ready to be released and thinking that I have to have this game.  I started playing that game and I thought it was one of the greatest games ever but yet I never finished it because of the time that it would've taken to complete everything.  It was almost like the game wanted a full-time relationship.  My hard drive ended up crashing and it had all my saved files on it and so after that I haven't played it again.

PDG: On another subject outside of the cage; I know what a big fan you are of heavy metal bands (thanks again for the Atreyu hook-up).  Are there some bands out there that are fairly new to the scene that maybe most people haven't heard of that you would recommend?

Josh Barnett: There are tons of bands like that but I always make sure that I make it to the GoatWhore concerts and this time they are coming with DevilDriver and two other amazing bands.  They are out of New Orleans and I would consider them American, black thrash metal and their last album was considered one of the top metal albums of the year.  They put on a great live show and their last album “Carving out the Eyes of God” came out last year and they really put on an intense show in concert.  I consider them some of my friends and I have hung out with them at a couple of conventions and concerts and it is definitely something that metal fans need to experience in person.

Adobe Flash Player not installed or older than 9.0.115!

I also need to recommend All That Remains because they are a sick band and some of my good friends.  They are currently on tour so if you get a chance to check them out they are opening for Shadows Fall.

PDG: Cool, let’s get back to the fight business; PDG and its official radio sponsor Takedown Radio recently did a series of interviews about the importance of wrestling in mixed martial arts.  The fighters, coaches and wrestlers that were interviewed said that wrestling is the best background to have going into a mixed martial arts career; what are your thoughts on that?

Josh Barnett: I absolutely agree and I came from a wrestling background myself.  I skipped collegiate wrestling to go straight into fighting but I wrestled in high school and went to the Asics Junior Nationals and wrestled Greco-Roman.  I have always kept a group of high-level wrestling partners around me to train with and I totally agree that wrestling is the best base to start with.  It gives you all the qualities necessary including endurance, speed, power and intensity and it also gives you that one-on-one mental competitive aspect.  I think it is also a great basis for striking defense because if you lack striking but you can always put your opponent on their back then it is going to be difficult for your opponent to deal with that and if you have the submission game you're already one step ahead if you can take your opponent down with ease.  If a wrestler can establish a good striking game than he has an even bigger advantage because his opponent will have a hard time taking him to the mat.  I have had all kinds of great wrestling training partners throughout my career and I believe that to be a big part of my success.

PDG: In closing this interview, what do you have to say to your fans that have supported you throughout the years and then in contrast to the many mixed martial arts fans that think you have cheated and don't want to see you fight again?

Josh Barnett: For those that support me, I want to say thanks and I'm always down for that and they will always get 100% out of me when I fight.  My track record speaks for itself including mixed martial arts and everything outside of the cage, I have always been a fighter for the fans.  For those people that may say fuck him he cheated, go ahead and direct your anger at me but it is never going to change the person that I am and I am not trying to gain the adoration and good opinion of non-supporters.  Being hated means that you stand for something.

PDG: So in your opinion, you didn't cheat anyone?

Josh Barnett: No.