I'm hearing that on three different occasions, Josh Barnett turned down an official invitation to be in Prides HW Grand Prix.............
What the hell is his problem?
maybe politics between NJPW and DSE.
And Tom Erikson................
Why the hell isn't he in there?
He's still asleep after his fight with Briggs.
I don't think so. I read several interviews with him where he said it wouldn't be a tourney of top talent w/o him.
Yes, Josh said that he needed to be in there for it to have the top HW talent. It would be stupid to turn down the invitation.
Barnett is the biggest thing missing from the GP line-up so far.
I am sure it has to do with money. NJPW probably wants a good portion of Barnett's fight purse if he fights in another organization.
From an interview with Josh and MMAWeekly on Feb 19 of this year:
"The contract that I signed over there for New Japan only strictly deals with management and professional wrestling. Any fight that I do is a separate deal altogether. So, I've got the ability, if we do shoot fights in New Japan, to do them there. I can do them in Pancrase or I could go to the UFC and fight if I wanted to or Pride or anywhere. I'm open to whoever makes an offer."
"RB: Real quick, just give me a yes or no answer. Do you feel you will be in the Pride Grand Prix?
JB: Yes."
Not invited. Josh is with Inoki, both MMA and NJPW. He's also the KOP. As much as he would have been a great addition, he was not invited by DSE, because of his contractual obligation to Inoki.
Same could be said for both Fujita (Inoki) and Sapp (K-1/FEG)
Fedor was offered to fight either Barnett or Coleman. Fedor said: "I don't care!", but Pride obviously cared, and they wanted him to fight Barnett. And for quite a few days this subject was discussed on biggest Russian MMA forum http://forumy.ru/valetudo/
So, Barnett was offered to fight Fedor, he thought for a few days, and than declined. He said, that he, of course, want to fight Fedor, but not in GP format (I don't know what exactly he meant to say).
BTW, this info comes from Fedor's friend, who made Fedor's official site: http://fedor.bel.ru/
Dont like Barnett much
Isn't Barnett that guy who got knocked out by Eugene Jackson and Pedro Rizzo in Ultimate Knockouts?
I would love to see Sylvia and Barnett in the GP.