MMA Legacy 7.20.09: Josh Barnett

Posted by Bill Wannop on 07.20.2009

Continuing the build to Affliction: Trilogy, MMA Legacy will look at both fighters in the main event starting with Josh Barnett! From becoming the youngest UFC heavyweight champion in history, to his time in pro wrestling and finally his road to Fedor!

Each and every week MMA Legacy shines the spotlight on a MMA legend. The legends may be retired or may be still actively competing. The column will begin with a bio on the selected legend following his career throughout its highs and lows. With Afflictions big third event on the horizon, MMA Legacy will take a look at the career of one of the fighters in the main event, Josh "The Babyfaced Assassin" Barnett.

This week's column is going to be a slightly shorter then usual due to the fact that I am still out of the country, and do not good access to the internet or my home computer. Mainly I will cut down the fighter background section and shorten up the fight details, but I should hopefully be back to normal next week.

Josh Barnett was born on November 10, 1977 (which would make him 31 years old today), in Seattle Washington. He graduated from Ballard High School in Seattle Washington.

Early Years
Josh had his first professional MMA fight on January 11, 1997 at UFCF: Clash of the Titans where he defeated Chris Charnos in the first round by submission. Josh would follow this up with another victory at UFCF: Road to the Championships 1, however this time the fight would go to a decision, with Barnett earning the victory over Bob Gilstrap.

Josh would then enter a tournament in Hawaii at Superbrawl 13 where he defeated Juha Tuhkasaar, Josh Marsh and Bobby Hoffman by armbar, kimura and unanimous decision to win the tournament and start his career with an impressive MMA record of 5-0.

The year 2000 would be a great year for Barnett although he only had 2 fights. His first was against Dan Severn at Superbrawl 16 where he would submit him by armbar in the fourth round. Following this victory Barnett would catch the eye of the UFC and would make his debut on November 17, 2000 at UFC 28: High Stakes where he faced off against Gan McGee. Barnett showed his skills by defeating McGee by TKO due to strikes near the end of the second round.



Barnett would hit a slight roadblock in his next fight when he faced off against Pedro Rizzo at UFC 30: Battle on the Boardwalk. In the first round the fight was mostly standup with Rizzo catching Josh with clean shots. However as the fight progressed Rizzos' stand up became too much for Barnett eventually knocking him out near the end of the second round. Following the loss Barnett would go on quite a roll by defeating Semmy Schilt at UFC 32: Showdown in the Meadowlands and Bobby Hoffman at UFC 34: High Stakes. He would finish Schilt by armbar in the first round and Hoffman by strikes in the second.

This would earn Josh a shot at Heavyweight champion Randy Couture at UFC 36: Worlds Collide. While Couture used his strategy of using the clinch, dirty boxing, and wrestling to control Josh in the first round, he made a mistake in the second round and ended up with Josh on top of him on the ground. From here Barnett used his size and power to rain down punches and finish off Couture to become the youngest UFC champion in history. Barnett would never defend the title as later that year he tested positive for steroids and would be stripped of the title. Since his fighting license was suspended in Nevada, Josh moved on to fight in Japan.




Japan Years
In Japan he began his career in professional wrestling in New Japan Pro Wrestling, and also competed in MMA and Pancrase. He would go on to defeat Jimmy Ambriz, Yuki Kondo, Yoshiki Takahashi, Sammy Schilt and Rene Rooze finishing all fights by TKO or submission to bring his MMA record to 15-1. With Josh's victory over Yuki Kondo, he became one of the few men to be a title holder in both the UFC and Pancrase (others include Ken Shamrock, Frank Shamrock, and Bas Rutten).

On October 31, 2004 Josh would make his debut in PRIDE at PRIDE 28: High Octane where he took on Mirko Cro Cop. Just 46 seconds into the first round Josh would suffer a fracture/dislocation of his shoulder giving the victory to Cro Cop and forcing Barnett to obtain surgery that would keep him out of action for the rest of 2004 and most of 2005. He would return at PRIDE 30: Fully Loaded in a rematch with Cro Cop. Cro Cop would earn the unanimous decision victory to bring Barnett's MMA record to 15-3.

Barnett again would bounce back at PRIDE 31: Dreamers against Kkauhiro Nakamura. Barnett would finish him by rear naked choke in the first round and would follow that up at PRIDE Total Elimination Absolute against Aleksander Emelianenko, winning the fight in the second round by Americana.

Barnett would then enter the PRIDE open weight GP and in the first round would face Mark Hunt at PRIDE Critical Countdown Absolute. Barnett would finish Hunt by kimura in the first round to advance. In the second round of the tournament he faced off against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at PRIDE: Final Conflict Absolute. In what was one of the best fights in MMA history, which saw the two men exchanging submission holds and Barnett locking in a knee bar in the dying seconds of the fight only for Nog to be saved by the bell. The judges would give the razor close decision to Barnett allowing him to advance to the finals of the tournament. Later that night in the finals of the tournament Barnett would get his third match up with Mirko Cro Cop. In the fight Barnett would suffer an eye poke that would eventually lead to him submitting due to strikes to go 0-3 against Cro Cop.


Barnett would then face off against Polish Judo gold medalist Pawal Nastula at PRIDE 32: The Real Deal on October 21, 2006. In what was a more competitive match up then most people expected Barnett eventually was able to secure a toe hold for the submission victory. Since this fight was back in the state of Nevada, Barnett was required to pass a drug test. Barnett successfully passed the test, however Pawel did not.

Antonio Rodgrigo Nogueira at PRIDE Shockwave 2006 at the 2006 year end show. In what was another close match up, Barnett seemed to fatigue in the closing minutes of the fight, allowing Nogueira to earn the unanimous decision victory to bring his MMA record to 20-5. This was the last MMA fight that Barnett would take part in until 2008. This was due to the acquisition of PRIDE by the UFC. Barnett did not want to sign with the UFC as he wanted to face off against whom he considered to be the best heavyweight fighter in the world, Fedor Emelianenko, who also did not sign with the UFC.




Road to Fedor
Following his long layoff Barnett would sign with Sengoku, and face Hidehiko Yoshida where he would defeat him in the third round by heel hook. At Sengoku 2 he would go the distance against Jeff Monson and would earn the unanimous decision victory.

Barnett would then sign with the Affliction organization and take part in the initial event Affliction: Banned in a rematch with Pedro Rizzo. In a complete reversal from the first meeting Barnett would KO Rizzo in the second round. This would earn Barnett a spot on Afflictions second event, Affliction: Day of Reckoning against Gilbert Yvel. While Yvel showed great toughness by taking a lot of punishment Barnett was finally able to put him away with strikes in the third round.



These victories would finally lead to the matchup Josh had been waiting for and the reason that he did not sign with the UFC, a fight with Fedor Emelianenko at Affliction: Trilogy on August 1, 2009.



Future Outlook
Josh Barnett has been around the MMA game for many years, competing in the early years of the UFC, PRIDE and now Affliction. He has had some great wars with many MMA greats from Couture to Nogueira and now finally Fedor. While he is a skilled submission fighter I don't believe that he has the tools to defeat Fedor, and I feel that Fedor will end the fight with a KO or a decision victory. Looking at the current heavyweights outside the UFC, there are not many interesting fights remaining, so if Barnett indeed wants to fight the best in the world, I see him re-signing with the UFC after the Fedor fight, which Dana White has mentioned that he has some interest in.

Josh Barnett has a great MMA legacy from being the youngest UFC heavyweight champion, to moving to Japan and defeating some of the best heavyweights of all time. He is currently the #2 ranked heavyweight on 411mania's heavyweight rankings, and should be a force in the division for many years to come.

Well next week I should be back home from my long trip and will conclude the build to Affliction: Trilogy by looking at the other half of the main event, Fedor!