On Wednesday in London for the promotion of UFC on FUEL 7, White briefly addressed the situation, saying that the ball is squarely in Barnett's court.
"It's up to him," he said. "He's a big boy. He's been around a long time. He kind of flies by the seat of his pants, anyway. I mean, even after he won the [UFC] title, imagine if Josh Barnett stayed in the UFC his whole career, what he could have accomplished, the money he could have made, and all the things that could have happened. But he's his own guy, he wants to do his own thing. I got no problem with that."
Barnett (32-6), a consensus top 10 heavyweight for years, is the highest-ranked divisional talent not under the UFC banner. He's won nine of his last 10, losing only to Daniel Cormier. After his last bout, a first-round submission win over Nandor Guelmino at last month's final Strikeforce event, Barnett officially became a free agent.
What is the disagreement he had during negociations that kept him from coming to the UFC? Manager said it wasn't money and they agree to their offer without a counter.
grachuss - It's probably because they wont let him do pro wrestling.
That was my guess. Kinda petty IMO if true.
This.
I'd love to see Barnett back in the UFC, but DFW has enough problems with fighters getting injured during training and having to pull out of fights- I'm guessing he doesn't need the extra headache & isn't willing to take the risk... who could blame him?
I think Josh Barnett will do well with whatever decision he makes. I'm sure he'd have a lot of fun and be able to live comfortably wrestling in Japan. I hope nothing but the best for him in whatever he does.
This turning from bad to worse. Why is this thing not happening.
I do not understand why the UFC is letting Josh go. The did the most buys when the WWF crowd moved into the PPV. Josh has great appeal to this crowd. He is a great character and he genuinely is still one of the better fighters.
Its just terrible frustrating.
And Kingston,you obviously never watched Pride. Josh won against Big Nog in his prime,he beat guys like Hunt,Schilts and Kharitanov.
More importantly he has always been competitive in his loses as well.
Its really a shame and frankly from a business standpoint a little strange. I thought the UFC was leaning more towards the entertainment angle. You need real entertainers then. Sonnen is one. Barnett is another. There both great fighters as well. They should have signed them.
"He wouldn't have fought the best in the world in PRIDE if he stayed.. he'd have faced cabbage, Arlovski(great fighter), sylvia and Murr... who else was there for him to fight that was truly great? "
How many did he fight in Pride that were truly great? Nog, Crocop, sure...Hunt? Aleksander? Nastula? Nakamura?
So basically you're saying he wouldn't have gone 1-4 against the "truly great" and gotten a couple wins over guys who weren't even on the level of the UFC guys you dismissed.
Also lol @ listing Arlovski as a "great fighter" but not Sylvia -- who was 2-1 with him -- or possibly even Mir, who has more big wins than Arlovski does.
"He wouldn't have fought the best in the world in PRIDE if he stayed.. he'd have faced cabbage, Arlovski(great fighter), sylvia and Murr... who else was there for him to fight that was truly great? "
How many did he fight in Pride that were truly great? Nog, Crocop, sure...Hunt? Aleksander? Nastula? Nakamura?
So basically you're saying he wouldn't have gone 1-4 against the "truly great" and gotten a couple wins over guys who weren't even on the level of the UFC guys you dismissed.
Also lol @ listing Arlovski as a "great fighter" but not Sylvia -- who was 2-1 with him -- or possibly even Mir, who has more big wins than Arlovski does.
Nastula was the 1995 and 1997 Judo World Champion, 1996 gold medalist at Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Whose first fight was with...Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. He defeated Edson Vieira who was on a 9 fight winning straight prior to his win.
