The Babyfaced Assassin

While he might not be a mainstay in the boring old UFC, Josh Barnett is nothing if not one of the busiest fighters on the MMA scene. A well rounded heavyweight with a solid amateur wrestling background makes him dangerous, his desire and ability to strike makes him downright frightening.

Josh has fought in pretty much every promotion out there. From pro-wrestling (aka fake-wrestling) in Japan, to Pancrase. From Pride FC to the UFC Heavyweight Championship in the US, he is truly an international superstar of the sport. As is already widely known, Barnett beat Randy Couture for the UFC Heavyweight title back in UFC 36, only to have it taken away for failing a drug test. To this day, Barnett denies these allegations. After being stripped of the title, Josh headed in search of greener pastures. He found a home in several Japanese fight promotions, but his real success in Japan would come in October of 2004, when Josh began fighting for the Pride Fighting Championships. While his first two matches in Pride would consist of back-to-back losses to Mirko "Cro-Cop" Filipovic, Josh became a mainstay in the organization. Fans fell in love with his entertaining style, both in the ring and out. In Pride, he would go on to defeat the likes of Aleksander Emelianenko, Mark Hunt, and Antonio Minataro Rodrigo Nogueira. He would also be defeated a thrid time by Cro-Cop. I remember seeing these matched myself. While these losses may look bad when you look at his record in a general sense, the matches themselves were fuckin awesome, and Barnett has nothing to be ashamed of from his performances. Within the past two years, he has defeated Jeff Monson at Sengoku 2 and both Gilbert Yvel and Pedro Rizzo in Affliction.

What's next for The Baby Faced assassin you may ask your stupid fuckin self? He's going to be fighting Fedor Emelianenko at the next Affliction event, for the WAMMA Heavyweight Championship. This is an extremely interesting match that I can't wait to steal from my illegal satellite dish. Barnett already defeated Fedor's cousin back in Pride, yet unlike Fedor, Josh couldn't get past Cro-Cop. We can count on both of them wanting to keep it standing, and they can both strike like hell, but if it does go to the ground, they are both masters of ground and pound and submissions. This match is sure to be a crowd-pleaser. As far as predictions go, I just cannot say. There are too many factors. I am leaning towards Fedor due to the fact that he is seemingly unbeatable, but then I think about Barnett, and I think that if anyone can beat Fedor, it would be a guy like Josh.

Barnett Vs. Pedro Rizzo