Interview With An Assassin: Barnett Prepares For Fedor

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Josh Barnett is the most underrated heavyweight fighter in the world. The Baby-Faced Assassin most recently made mincemeat out of Dutch kickboxer Gilbert Yvel at Affliction: Day of Reckoning this past January. The former UFC Heavyweight title holder is on a four-fight winning streak and holds a stunning MMA record of 24-5. His opponent, however, hasn’t lost a fight since the year 2000. In what will undoubtedly be his most difficult fight to date, Barnett will be facing the one and only Fedor Emelianenko for the WAMMA Heavyweight Championship this August 1st at Affliction: Trilogy.

Yael Grauer: How does it feel to go up against somebody who almost everybody thinks you’re going to lose to?

Josh Barnett: You know what? I don’t care, because there’s plenty of times I’ve fought people where everybody thought I was going to win. It’s not what everybody thinks. It’s not what anybody thinks other than myself. And if you approach a fight with the mentality that oh, you’re gonna lose or “oh, I’ve got this in the bag,” or anything other than taking it as serious as possible and considering every aspect, every part of that fight to be possibly the hardest one you’re ever going to have… then you’re just asking not to perform to your ability. And when that happens then someone who shouldn’t have beat you might have their night and now you’re looking like an idiot.

YG: What do you think you can do in fighting Fedor that nobody else has been able to do?

JB: Win.

YG: How? What are you going to do differently?

JB: For one, I’m not scared. So many other people get in the ring and clearly they’re scared. Two, I’ve got the skill set required at any aspect where I can win the fight. I believe in it. I’m not going in there thinking I’ve got to do one thing or the other. I know when opportunities are there I can take them and win, and I believe in what I’m doing.

YG: How do you feel about your last fight? Was there anything you think you needed to work on or that could’ve gone better?

JB: Well, yeah, it could’ve gone a lot better. I’m not very satisfied with my last fight at all, but I know the reasons why I didn’t perform up to my expectations at least. And Gilbert was a really really really tough guy so I’ll definitely give that to him. I should’ve had that fight finished in the first round, but I had a lot of stuff going on as happens to anybody at any point and I had to work through it and do the best I could and show up and fight.

YG: What kind of stuff did you have going on?

JB: You know what?  If I talk about it, I’m making excuses and I’m not looking for that. I know I can do better and that’s where it’s at.

YG: If you win, are you planning on signing to the UFC afterwards?

JB: I don’t have any plans on anything. The only plan I have is going to my afterparty and having a hell of a time, listen to my buddies in Internal Corrosion play some brutal metal, drinking, getting stupid, hanging out with Shayna and Ginele and all my other friends and my family. That’s all I care about once the fight is over with. Everything else will sort itself out in time, but that stuff is a whole different battle altogether. You don’t just sign with anybody, you have to work out all the details and believe me, they don’t just sign people. You have to work out all the details. No matter who it is.

YG: Anything else about your strategy for your fight coming up?

JB: Be in shape, be mean and take it to him.

YG: That’s it?

JB: I’ve been fighting long enough. If I don’t know what the hell I need to do to go out there and win or what it takes by now to win a fight then I am in the wrong business.

Thanks to Josh Barnett for the interview and to Shannon Hooper.