Barnett Interview
NEW YORK — Strikeforce might be Josh Barnett's final path to prominence.
"It just seemed like the way things are coming together, it was going to be the place to be," Barnett says of Strikeforce. "My chance to really make a huge mark on this sport, and perhaps the last big opportunity I'm really going to get."
The heavyweight has accomplished almost everything possible for him in mixed martial arts, both good and bad. He captured belts in the Ultimate Fighting Championship and Pancrase. He won major fights in Pride Fighting Championships. He's tested positive multiple times for banned substances, though he denies using them. He's beaten some of the best heavyweights of his generation, including Randy "The Natural" Couture and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. He's trained some of the best fighters, such as women's MMA superstar Megumi Fujii.
Josh Barnett is No. 11 in the USA TODAY/SB Nation consensus rankings for heavyweights.
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By Jessica Rinaldi for USA TODAY
But eight years after capturing UFC's title, Barnett is back in the hunt for some kind of championship. He's scheduled to face Brett Rogers on April 9 in the first round of the Strikeforce World Grand Prix, with the winner taking on Sergei Kharitonov, who beat Andrei Arlovski on Saturday in East Rutherford, N.J.
USA TODAY spoke to Barnett last week after a press conference in New York to promote Saturday's show. Excerpts from the conversation:
Q: Seemed like every time they needed someone to say something articulate at the press conference, they handed the mike to you. Are you used to that by now?
Barnett: A bit. I understand my lot in this whole promotional scheme of things.
Being able to be a good mouthpiece, it's not really hurting me. I've used it for commentary and other TV gigs like that before.
Everybody's got their niche. I just happen to have that, that works for me, or at least I think it does. Others, whatever their gimmick, their deal that they bring to the table, that's them -- they've just got to learn how to maximize it.
Conventional wisdom says you got the easy side of the bracket. How much would you agree with that perception?
I understand the perception. I see the paper trail that they would make people think that way.
The funny thing is, nobody knows how it's going to turn out. I'm sure everyone thought Fedor would kill Brett Rogers in 10 seconds. That was a pretty knock-down, drag-'em out fight. Anything is possible with these guys. All of them are tough, and all of them have risen to the occasion at some point or other.
I like the fact that people think it's the easy side of the bracket , that they think I'm going to mow through these guys. I think it's great. I think I'm going to mow through them, but I think I'd mow through anybody. That's the position that I've got to keep for me. The only thing to do is to go out there and fight the fights and try to make it look easy, I guess, if I can.
Hell, every other tournament I've been in, they've put me on the stacked side paper-wise. So forget it -- I could deserve a break.
How do you see Brett Rogers?
Big. He's kind of like a juggernaut. Just comes forward. Lots of force, lots of pressure, always forward momentum. It's not about always the technique or the skill; it's just about trying to go through something. A big guy like that, moving with that kind of gusto -- dangerous. I'm not going to be in front of it.
When you say "not going to be in front of it," what does that mean? Are you going to moving laterally a lot, or trying to clinch with him?
It means he's going to make a mistake and I'm going to capitalize on it. I'm not there to get hit upside the head by anybody.
So will the fight with Rogers be more like your last fight with Pedro Rizzo or your fight with Geronimo Dos Santos?
It'd be more like dos Santos.
Rizzo has a tendency to get on a bicycle and take off. He's hard to pin down. He'll settle a little bit, look for his countershot or whatever, and then if you give him too much forward pressure, he bails; he's gone. He's pretty quick on his feet.
So for Rizzo, it was a just matter of trying to get him, chip away, wait for him to give me that opening. I got into quite a few clinches, but I didn't try to take him down that hard, but I figured, "I'm not going to waste the energy here. He's going to fight so hard to keep distance and avoid the takedown; well, I'm not going to combat that by expending more energy. Instead, I'll keep it on the fight and clip him on the break."
Eventually he gave me that jab I was looking for, and I just popped over the top, stunned him and then finished it off with the left hook. I just didn't need to be in a hurry.
Brett, he's more like Mondragon (dos Santos). He's going to come hard, forward with big right hands. Half his punches are going to come from his hip, but you don't want to get in the way of him.
The Strikeforce press kit has a quote from Brett saying that catch wrestling is great, but if you don't get the catch, you're screwed. What do you make of that?
I haven't seen it, and I think it's hilarious, because his coach claims to be a catch wrestler.
Maybe he knows what he's talking about then.
Yeah, maybe he does. But I guess only thing to do is give him a firsthand lesson. Honestly, I think once I get a hold of him, he's not going too far.
Your lead trainer, Erik Paulson, is off for six weeks helping Brock Lesnar coach guys on The Ultimate Fighter. How much does that hinder your preparation for Brett?
It's kind of a bummer, but I've been doing this a few years at this point. I've actually trained my own world champions.
I feel in other circumstances with another guy, it could be really detrimental. But with me, I know what it takes to run a camp. How training needs to be; what's necessary of me and my trainers.
I've got great trainers back home still: Oscar "The Boxer" Muniz, my boxing coach; Lucious Smith, my strength and conditioning coach; Nicolas Saignac -- good luck trying to spell that just on phonetics...
Yeah, I'll have to doublecheck that.
He's French, my savate coach.
I've got great wrestlers all around me, great grapplers and great strikers. Some folks I might have to bring in for sparring partners, but for me, all I'm really concerned about is being sharp and being healthy. (If) those two are accomplished, then there ain't nothing that's going to stop me.
What does savate give you that you can't get otherwise?
Easiest explanation I can say is, Muay Thai is more like a blunt-force trauma; sort of a, you hit me, I hit you back. Savate is like Floyd Mayweather; I hit you, you don't hit me at all.
I like that. I like being light on my feet. Lateral (movement), angles, head movement. They actually use their lead leg like a boxer uses his lead hand: jabs, distance measuring. Yeah, they throw knockouts with it too, but in general, it's to set up your power shots.
It's like classic boxing, but with your feet. Nicolas, he's like a surgeon with his feet. He'll just pick you apart. You block one place, he hits you in another. It's just a matter of a difference of inches.
Was the kick that you used on Mighty Mo (Siala-Mou Siliga) a savate kick?
It was, but not intended to hit him in the groin. I throw a kick a lot similar to the one Anderson (Silva) threw (at Vitor Belfort). Use a snap kick with the ball of the foot; in savate, that's called a chasse. You can land it a number of places: to the jaw; to the liver; to the solar plexus. You can kick the inside of the leg with it; that's a really nasty one. You can even kick the outside of the leg with it. Karate has a similar kick, as well.
Honestly, I was peppering his mid-section with it, and he just happened to open up on a kick as soon as my leg was coming up, and the trajectory just popped it right in. I've never hit anybody in the groin like that before either, so it was quite the surprise.
Anderson claims he perfected the technique with Steven Seagal. (jokingly) Did you get any movie stars to refine your kick?
I actually do train some movie stars. A guy named Victor Webster; he just wrapped up on the latest Scorpion King movie. He's doing a whole stint on Castle. He trains with Eddie Bravo in jiu-jitsu as well as with me in catch wrestling.
How do you reconcile the two?
One's got to feed into the other. You've got to add many elements to the pot. You stir it up, and what kind of soup you're going to make in the end is up to you, because everybody's got their physical attributes that work better one way or the other, or mindset.
So the rubber guard can work with the guy who teaches ways to snap it?
Exactly.
Techniques and moves, they're all the same anywhere you go. It's just a movement.
Philosophies change, and I impart my philosophy to a guy like Victor or anybody that I train, and they make the most of it. I believe in my style A-number one, but I'm not going to tell anybody else not to train in other things, or not to learn, not to expand their horizons. They've got to create what's best for them.
It's more like a JKD (jeet kune do) mind-set. You know, eat the meat, spit out the bone.
I know you said speculation is meaningless, but who do you like to come out of the other side of the bracket? (Note: The interview took place before Saturday's Strikeforce show, when Antonio Silva defeated Fedor Emelianenko)
Well, Fedor. He's my friend. That's the fight everybody feels they're owed, and I'd like to give it to them.
Do you feel the MMA audience is owed that fight?
I think I'm owed that fight.
How much did the chance to finally get that fight play into your decision to sign with Strikeforce?
It was pretty big.
But also, it just seemed like the way things are coming together, it was going to be the place to be, and my chance to really make a huge mark on this sport, and perhaps the last big opportunity I'm really going to get.
You talked about training champions before. When will we see Megumi Fujii back in action?
Good question. I'm not sure quite yet, but I guarantee that she'll be out there at some point before the end of the year.
How much do you want a rematch with Zoila Frausto?
We'd love that. I don't know if she'll ever dare get down to '15 again. I think she sort of feels like she's done enough down there that she can just abandon it and ride the coattails of it.
Not to say that she's wrong for thinking so. I don't know how it is for her to be a 115-pound fighter, but I also think if you're going to get there, you've got to back it up. Don't fight there if you don't intend to stay there.
You could just take it at '25, couldn't you?
Potentially, but even at '15, Zoila was huge. At '25, it'd be ridiculous. It's hard enough for me to get Megumi up to even something like 125 pounds, so it's not the kind of situation I'd put Megumi in.
How frustrating was it watching Megumi being stubborn about trying to prove something with her stand-up?
(jaw tightens). It made me want to shoot myself in the face.
As far as I can tell, normally she's pretty good about listening to instructions.
She is, normally.
So what happened that night?
Don't really know. It could make me just have an aneurysm just sitting here.
Sorry to bring it up.
It's alright.
