Issue 104

August 2013

Why did it take over 10 years for top heavyweight Josh Barnett and the UFC to reconcile? FO’s archives have the answer

Today, Josh Barnett is one of the UFC’s newest heavyweights. In 2006, in conversation with Fighters Only, the Pride FC heavyweight was lamenting 

his 2002 quarrel with the promotion that’d left him on the outside looking in for 48 months. He had no idea then those issues would drag on for seven more years. 

A positive drugs test following the catch wrestler’s defeat of Randy Couture for the UFC heavyweight belt at UFC 36 in ‘02 was the start of it all. It cued a falling-out with UFC top brass, and though little has been said about the exact causes since, Barnett revealed two of the primary issues to FO back in 2006. They both had one common theme: opportunities.

“When I did win the (UFC) title one of my thoughts was that Pride would be able to pay more than the UFC and therefore I would go over there,” confessed Barnett. 

“But that was a really 

ill-conceived plan. That certainly ended up creating a really bad scenario.”

He added: “I made some bad choices with what I let my manager do and say as far as my career was concerned. Even though they may be another person they’re speaking on your behalf, so if they’re upsetting people then it’s going to come back on you as a fighter. I was just a really young kid and very upset that I always felt that the UFC wasn’t interested in promoting me the same as they were promoting other fighters.”

Even back then in 2006, as Barnett flew amongst the cream of Pride’s star-studded heavyweight division, he expressed regret at the contention between himself and the UFC. “I just really wish things hadn’t got so terrible with the UFC, that things got so ugly,” said Barnett. “I would’ve liked to have done things differently, but I don’t regret that it did happen because it took me to a place that I’m very, very happy.”

That place was Japan. A fan of both Japanese fighting culture (“It’s not about if you have a loss, it’s about the type of performance,” he told FO) and Japanese geek culture (“I love sci-fi, anime, role-playing games and all that stuff”), Barnett had wanted to fight in the Far East nation for several years. After 406 days in purgatory while seeking a bout after the UFC, from 2003 to 2008 Barnett competed exclusively 

in Japan. 

There his two-year Pride stint (during which he spoke to FO) was bookended by appearances for organizations such as K-1 Romanex, Pancrase and Sengoku.

Afterward, he stepped into the ring for, most notably, the short-lived Affliction promotion and Strikeforce. In the mean time, UFC president Dana White made his feelings about Barnett clear. He told journalist Ariel Helwani in 2010 he had “zero tolerance” for Barnett’s attitude and “that’s why he’s not in the UFC and never will be.”

However, Barnett’s Strikeforce stay rekindled his career in the minds of Western fans, as he submitted his way into the organization’s heavyweight tournament finals. But despite his revitalized profile, the UFC’s final absorption of Strikeforce’s assets earlier this year (following several contract intakes over the preceding months) left Barnett in limbo. He’d smoothed relations with the UFC since the Las Vegas company’s purchase of Strikeforce in 2011, but problems remained. Though they were now at least contractual rather than personal. It emerged in February that Barnett had turned down a UFC deal due to both parties’ inability to agree on certain terms. Three months later, they’d ironed out the wrinkles and Barnett was the heavyweight division’s latest addition. Time must be a healer.

THE FUTURE IS NOW

When you’re Fighters Only, scouting future fight stars is easy. In the August 2006 issue we covered Pride Bushido 11, where new UFC names Gegard Mousasi and Hector Lombard were both competitors in the 2006 welterweight (183lb) grand prix. They later fought each other (Mousasi the winner by decision) but not before we earmarked them for success. Of Mousasi we noted he had “real potential,” and said the same for Lombard. “He just needs to calm down a little, use his judo more and gain some experience.” Both went on to win numerous titles before their current UFC stays. 

Elsewhere in the August 2006 Issue

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED?

These days UFC welterweight favorite Dan Hardy is looking toward winding his career down. Judging by our conversation with him in our August 2006 edition, several years before he earned a UFC contract, he might be doing so with a smile. When asked then how he wanted to be remembered when he retired, Dan said: “As a hardcore, never-say-die fighter that always gave 100% in everything he did.” Sounds like the modern-day ‘Outlaw’ to us.

CRIME TIME

Back in the August 2006 issue we reported that British UFC and Cage Rage veteran Lee Murray had been arrested in Morocco in relation to the biggest cash heist in British history, which took place earlier that year. The 8-2-1 (1 NC) Murray, who fought current pound-for-pound king Anderson Silva to a decision loss in 2004, is now serving a 25-year sentence in the country for his role in the £53 million (around $82 million) robbery. One of the more surreal mainstream crossovers in MMA history.

RE-ENTER THE ROUGHOUSE

Before they were famous, Fighters Only UK figurehead Ian Freeman trained with the Rough House team in Nottingham back in 2006, prior to his retirement-breaking bout with Melvin Manhoef in Cage Rage. A snap of his visit made the welcome page and future stars Dan Hardy, Paul Daley and Jimmy Wallhead are all in it, long before they had a sniff of the sport’s premier destinations such as the UFC and Bellator. See, we always knew how to pick ‘em.