ufc 36 josh barnett interview : SFUK's mixed martial arts reports

JB. Josh Barnett, on course for an incredible fight tomorrow night. How are you feeling?

Josh Barnett : Good, really good. I feel like I've already won this fight. The training I've done to prepare for this I feel like it's already in the bag.

JB. What type of training have you been doing specifically?

Josh Barnett : Just same old AMC way. Lots of kickboxing, sparring, padwork, grappling, I've had some really good college wrestlers come up to work with me. One of them, Reece Andy (sp?) was a three time all american, and I've been working with him a lot.

JB. What type of gameplan are you trying to work or are you just going to try and be flexible as to what presents itself?

Josh Barnett : I'm gonna be flexible but the main thing is that I'm going out there and I'm going to force my offence and I'm gonna make him fight defensively the entire fight.

JB. One thing that seems to be happening now is that fans don't look for just a flawless record anymore and fighters can often get a lot of respect if they fight well and lose. Prime example of this is your fight with Rizzo where you got knocked out and that fight got you a lot of recognition with the fans. What do you think about that development?

Josh Barnett : I think it's a good thing, I think it's really ridiculous that a good fighter sometimes can be buried under the negativity of just a loss. A loss isn't the be all and end all of everything. There's a lot more to it than just wins and losses.

JB. One of the first times I saw you fight was in the Superbrawl 13 tournament. Thinking back to that you had Ricco in there, Bobby Hoffman and Heath Herring. When you went to that competition did you see anything in those guys that made you think in a couple of years time these guys are gonna be big?

Josh Barnett : Actually, I didn't really focus that much on what they were doing. As far as I was concerned I was always gonna be kicking their butt anyway. I was always gonna stay one step ahead of the game so as good as they can get, they're always gonna be trying to play catch up. that's my attitude.

JB. You're a Christian aren't you?

Josh Barnett : . Yes.

JB. How do you try to equate you Christian faith with the work that you do?

Josh Barnett : You know the way I feel about it is that sure I don't think that it's a good thing to go out and do things that are malicious, that are mean, without reason, just ridiculous sorts of things. I think there's a difference between going in and competing as a warrior in something and using skills and harnessing skills that have been given to you by God, and another thing such as just going out there and just beating up some tyrant.

JB. I suppose it's the difference between a sport and 'real life'.

Josh Barnett : Exactly, not to mention the fact that if I wasn't meant to do this then I wouldn't be here, I wouldn't be doing it so there must be a reason for it.

JB. So you believe in destiny to an extent?

Josh Barnett : Well, I just think that everybody has potential inside them for something and one of the worst things you can do is not tap that potential and try to fulfill that potential. I feel that's a waste of Gods gifts to you.

JB. What's happening with Matt Hume as far as fighting, Is he gonna come back?

Josh Barnett : Yeah, he's just giving himself some time to recouperate and he's still working on his knee and as soon as things are 100% he's looking to get a few fights.

JB. I look forward to seeing him, one of my all time favourite fights is him against Eric Paulson.

Josh Barnett : Yeah, wasn't that just technical.

JB. Have you got anything to say to your UK and European fans?

Josh Barnett : You need more episodes of 'Red Dwarf'. I've seen series 8 and I heard there's a movie and stuff and I just hanging on for that (laughing).

JB. Have you got anything else to say to the people out there?

Josh Barnett : Just keep training hard and the UFC should be coming out there soon. I hope that we can present you guys with a great fight, excitment and establish a real rapport over there.

JB. Thanks a lot Josh.

Josh Barnett : You're welcome.

20 March 2002

Post fight interview : 24 March 2002

JB. Josh Barnett, Heavyweight Champion of the World, how're you feeling?

Josh Barnett : I feel really good. I went out there and did what I intended to do and it went really well. Like I've been, saying people wondered about the late rounds and I said it was never going to make it to the late rounds.

JB. I honestly thought that it would've been a long drawn out battle. Obviously you're pleased about that.

Josh Barnett : Yeah he was ranked no.1 or no.2 depending on where you looked and I went out there and dispatched him fairly quickly.

JB. In the first round it looked as if you were taking a bit of punishment but we know as a heavyweight you're incredibly active on your back. Was any of those shots really getting through? Was he hurting you?

Josh Barnett : He hit me with maybe two punches.

JB. Two punches?

Josh Barnett : But it takes a lot more than two punches. Towards the end of the round I got back to my feet and nailed him with a lot of knees and actually hit him with some punches on the feet and I think I took a bit of his wind out of him.

JB. When you reversed him in the second round he looked almost lost for a solution. Did that surprise you?

Josh Barnett : No, not at all because part of the way I fight is that I get so far ahead of my opponent that they end up trying to play catch up. And he's playing off of his back and I'm nailing him with elbows, looking for submissions and still moving. I'm never sitting still and when I am sitting still and he thinks he going to get a shot on me I'm blocking it, making it so that when he misses I react off of it. He got mount, and that was a very good job on his part the way that he was able to take it. He secured my foot and made it putting himself in a position by closing the space off right away and instead of rushing right into the situation off the takedown and sliding right into it. He was able to achieve mount position (but) I knew that he wasn't going to be able to work from it because I could buck him off.

JB. I was speaking earlier today about people training from 'worse case scenarios'. What I mean is that you train to escape from being mounted, from people taking your back. Is that the type of thing that you've been working on?

Josh Barnett : All the time, always.

JB. Was there any point when you thought when you starting to really land on him and trapped him up against the fence, and, if you'll pardon the expression, smelt blood and decided just to keep going?

Josh Barnett : Yeah, exactly. When I first started letting loose on him I felt that at first I start out really really fast and strong. He didn't go out and they didn't stop the fight so I start picking my shots a little more and looking for opportunities and going to the body a lot just in case he happens to last throught this round to take his drive, his wind away so when he goes back to his corner he's not going to come back out with very much. He openned up, gave me another openning, and I flurried on him and Big John stopped it.

JB. I thought it was a good stoppage because when you started to really land on him I thought 'they'll let him take this for about a minute' and they did. You made an incredibly classy comment in the programme saying that you'd look forward to training with him after the fight. What type of things would you work with him on?

Josh Barnett : I would just help him prepare for a fight and help fix holes in his game.

JB. What do you think his biggest problem is?

Josh Barnett : His submissions, his transmission from one aspect of fighting to the next.

JB. Do you think that's a problem that's common with wrestlers?

Josh Barnett : I think that's a problem that's common with everybody.

JB. Really?

Josh Barnett : I think that a lot of people out there, they go out and they either do one or the other.

JB. Did you watch the rest of the show?

Josh Barnett : Sure

JB. What did you think to it?

Josh Barnett : I thought it was a very good show, very suprising some of the fights.

JB. I thought it was very dramatic. People are saying a lot about the stoppages. I thought yours was a good stop, I thought Pats was a good stop, what's your view on that?
Josh Barnett : I thought that it wasn't good in the fact that Pat wasn't hurt but Pat had ample opportunity to get out of there. It was in his hands really.

JB. Do you think he was taken aback by Matt Lindlands strength or something like that?

Josh Barnett : I really don't know what to say about whats going through Pats mind but I'm sure he knows how to get out of there and the fact that he didn't, well he really shot himself in the foot. The stoppage was not Larry Landless' fault at all. If anyone wants to complain about the stoppage you gotta complain to Pat, it was up to him.

JB. We were saying that not lot of the shots were getting throught that much but he wasn't working to escape.

Josh Barnett : He wasn't even trying to avoid them.

JB. There was a lot of talk about Sakurai coming into this event. What did you think to his performance with Matt (Hughes)?

Josh Barnett : He just got overpowered. Matt was really humble in the fact that he really felt that it was the weight and strength.

(the next question was asking what the ending of Akira was about. Josh is a big fan of anime but I didn't feel it would be suitable here. If you want the informative and decisive answer that Josh gave email me at jimburman@hotmail.com)

JB. What's on the card for you now. Obviously title defences but do you think we're going to see you in London?

Josh Barnett : That remains to be seen. We'll just have to play it by ear and see how things go. Hopefully I'm not injured and the injuries from pounding on Randys head heal up here. We'll see what happens.

JB. Who do you see as your next fight? Who do you think's worthy of a shot right now?

Josh Barnett : It's hard to say. Riccos definitely making his way up the ranks but I think he has to fight TK first and I'm going to be there for TK to make sure TK comes out on top. But I think Ricco is definitely the top guy right now.

JB. How would you beat him?

Josh Barnett : The same way as everybody else. If he gives me the opportunity to put him away I'll submit him, I'll knock him out, it doesn't matter.

JB. Are you looking for redemption for the Pedro Rizzo fight or could you not care either way?

Josh Barnett : There's a part of me that really wants to go in there and smash him up really bad but it's not really personal for me and I'm sure that if the opportunity presents itself, well I'll finish what I started.

JB. In my opinion during that fight I thought you would have benefited from clinching a bit more. Do you think that your success with striking with him took you from your game plan?

Josh Barnett : Anthony Laing (sp?), Elvis' trainer said I was hitting him so much that I 'hit he bottle' one too many times.

JB. Do you think you got drawn of your game plan a bit?

Josh Barnett : Yeah, I got really caught up and landed so many shots and I figured don't take a big double leg shot because he expects that so give him what he doesn't expect. I thought he would clinch a lot more and I wanted to take him down from the clinch but he wanted not part of the clinch with me. He didn't want to trade Thai knees, he didn't want to play there at all.

JB. What did you think of his fight last night because nobody expected Andrei to trade with him. I thought Andrei saw some success.

Josh Barnett : I hink Rizzo has still proved that he's a dangerous force but he doesn't look quite as crisp as he used to. People ask me about how does it feel to be the champ and I just keep telling everybody that as far as I was concerned I was already the champion. I trained hard, felt prepared and I felt there was nothing that could hold me back.

JB. Thanks a lot Josh.

Josh Barnett : Thanks.