Issue 189

March 2020

Veteran heavyweight and color commentator Josh Barnett looks back at a fistful of unforgettable scraps.

1. Yuki Kondo, Pancrase 10th Anniversary Show

Winning the King of Pancrase title over him in 2003 would be number one. It was a journey. I was in the ring and I had Enson Inoue and the people from New Japan Pro Wrestling in my corner. I was there as a representative of New Japan Pro Wrestling. I was there as a student of Matt Hume, who competed in the original King of Pancrase tournament but he lost to Suzuki in the quarter finals. Here I came around ten years later and claimed the title. So, it was a really special moment for me that night.

2. Mirko Cro Cop, Pride: Final Conflict Absolute

The finals of the 2006 PRIDE Heavyweight Grand Prix has to be on the list. It was yet another struggle against Cro Cop. I was not at my best that night. I was exhausted. I saw something I worked so hard for just… gone. I was getting the worst of it but, ultimately, it was down to an eye gouge. Well, that sucked.

3. Randy Couture, UFC 36

Winning the UFC Heavyweight title over Randy Couture, someone I watched with admiring eyes, someone who was also a Washington State native, a wrestler and someone I even got to train with at times. Now he was my opponent. I looked at Randy as one of the absolute best in the world. He was the highest of all of the heavyweights out there. I got a chance to prove my mettle in the ring. I got the chance to show what I believe in and I got the chance to put an exclamation point on all of the work that I had been doing up to that point.

4. Semmy Schilt, Inoki Bom Ba-Ye 2003

I got food poisoning a week and a half or two weeks before the fight. I got in the ring and I wasn’t quite as strong as I hoped to be. Sem was big and he was looking for revenge. I had to tell myself at times that there was no way I was going to lose right now. It doesn’t matter how difficult this fight gets or what struggles I have. There was zero opportunity for me to back off. At the end of the day, my fight was the network's highest-rated fight of the whole card. It was a win by armbar again for me against Sem. I got his other arm. I can say that I beat, by submission, a four-time K-1 champion. Twice.

5. Chris Charnos, UFCF 1

I would go with my first MMA fight ever. I took it on 11 days’ notice while I was on winter vacation back in January of 1997. I was home for the holidays and I got a phone call from a former wrestling coach and I stepped in and fought an older, more experienced man. I made my mark on the world. I showed everybody that I talked to about doing this, that I was going to go after it and that I was capable.