Josh Barnett talks about fighting Nelson, interest in a Fedor fight and more

Josh Barnett and Roy Nelson pose for the media

The current heavyweight division in the UFC has witnessed the resurgence of old war horses, such as Andrei Arlovski and Frank Mir. With the division once again wide open, a number of fighters are vying to punch their way into contention for the title, and this weekend, UFC once again returns to the Saitama Arena in Japan, and the card is headlined by Josh Barnett, who will be returning to action inside the Octagon after a near 2 year layoff, against a game Roy Nelson, who will be looking to return to winning ways after his two previous consecutive losses.

It hasn’t been all smooth sailing for either of the competitors, with Josh Barnett losing his previous fight inside the Octagon to Travis Browne. ‘The Warmaster’, who has kept himself quite busy during his brief hiatus from the UFC, has previously expressed his desire to once again climb up the ranks and fight for the title, but his fight with Nelson will be anything but easy. The two had previously engaged in a war of words over social media, where Nelson called Barnett out for his previous use of PEDs, while Barnett landed a jab of his own, calling Nelson a ‘toddler with a butter knife’.

However, the time for talk is now over, as Barnett and Nelson will engage in what will definitely be a slugfest. Before the fight, my colleague, Ratish Menon and I managed to catch up with Barnett, who gave his thoughts about a variety of topics, ranging from his hiatus to his career in Hollywood.

Barnett threw the ‘ring rust’ theory out of the window, saying that will not be of any significance during his fight. “I think the idea of ‘ring rust’ is a bit of a… it’s an accepted standard norm term that you throw around. People don’t really think about it much, and where the term ring rust comes from. Me, I’ve been training, being competitive and I don’t really have any ring rust. I don’t feel I have ring rust, I feel sharp as ever, and there’s no issue with that.”

Talking about the resurgence of the old war horses in the heavyweight division, and if he was eyeing a potential run as the UFC heavyweight champion, Barnett added, “I’m willing to fight for the title any time, but we’ll let things go along as they do. I mean, I need to go out there and give a fantastic performance. I need to be dominant and get people’s attention. And if that happens, then the talk of a title run, or any opportunity that comes my way… I try not to think too far ahead. Those things are all possible, which I believe in my mind.”

One of the biggest talking points in the world of MMA over the past week has been the return of ‘The Last Emperor’, Fedor Emelianenko. With Josh’s time in Japan, we asked him if he would still want to face Fedor sometime in the near future. “Oh yes, absolutely. I mean, he’s one of the best fighters in the world in my eyes, even still (is). If you want to be at the top of the heap in any athletic competition, you go out there and face the best. So, Fedor’s one of them, and to avoid such a thing, you’re really doing it (being in MMA) for the wrong reason.”

Talking about his other projects, we asked Barnett about his project with Michael Jai White in the works. Barnett spoke in detail regarding his interest in movies, and what he thought about the transition. “I love it. I like the fact that it’s a completely new challenge, that is unlike MMA in how you prepare for it, and how you approach it. I mean, you can’t force acting… you can try but you will be terrible. It’s a whole new world, but I’ve always been a huge fan of films, and anybody who knows me can attest to how I can go on and on about the rarest, weirdest films over at coffee shop, over the perennial critics’ favorites. But it’s just, new adventures, evolution.

People need to evolve in life, and I necessarily never saw myself becoming an actor, but if the opportunity is available to me, I tend to get the most out of it. It’s also, thinking about it, easy for me to get involved because some of my friends are actors and in Hollywood, but also our gym, CSW comes from quite a collection of people who work in the entertainment industry. Erik Paulson’s training partner Chad Stahelski went on to form 87Eleven, which is practically the biggest and best stunt school team – action team that there is in Hollywood. They are doing all the big movies and one of our guys, Eric transitioned from being a fighter and featured at our gym to one of the people that work with Chad at 87Eleven. He even went down to India to do all the choreography for the movie ‘Brother’.

The connection is really small, but it’s there.”

You can catch UFC Fight Night 75 – Barnett vs. Nelson live and exclusively on Sony SIX HD and Sony KIX, on 27th September at 7:30 AM, from the Saitama Arena in Japan.