To hear Josh Barnett tell it, he gets what was going through Fabricio Werdum’s mind when the heavyweight champ decided to turn down a fight with Stipe Miocic, but Barnett would have handled it differently.
Deciding not to take a fight is always a tricky business in combat sports, especially when you have to make the decision quickly and publicly. The UFC and fans were left reeling a bit when Cain Velasquez pulled out of his planned title shot against Fabricio Werdum on just two week’s notice. But, the UFC had a backup plan sitting in their hip pocket. Stipe Miocic was the challenger in waiting. With Velasquez gone, he was ready to step up and take his title shot against Werdum. Except that Werdum wasn’t ready to give it to him.
Josh Barnett, who fights Ben Rothwell this Saturday at UFC on Fox 18 offered to fight Stipe in Werdum’s place as the UFC 196 headliner and sounded more than ready if the UFC was willing to put an interim heavyweight title on the line. That didn’t happen. And while Barnett understands why Werdum turned the fight down, he chipped in with his own advice to the current champ (transcript via MMAFighting):
“I understand his fear, but should he take that fight?” Barnett said at a UFC media lunch. “I think he should. I think that’s where he should step up and blast this guy. Or at least he should have come up with a better excuse. But it’s his life to live, not mine. The fans will judge him and think whatever they want to.”
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“He does not want to risk the potential of walking into the cage and making less than he’s making now,” Barnett said. “He probably feels like this opportunity to make this money, this is it. He’s 38, he’s coming into his prime. He’s had the best performances of his entire life. If he doesn’t do it now, it’s gone forever. He won’t make that money again. These are his opportunities for his paydays, so he’s fearful of losing that. Understandably so.”
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“I understand his reasoning, but when you say that in the public when we’re supposed to be swimming in a sea of tough guys, sometimes there’s aspects of the business side that you’re not gonna get everybody to understand,” Barnett said. … “What does that say about Cain, too? Oh, he’s willing to fight Cain all f*cked up, but not Stipe? This is where people should understand pro wrestling more. Now you just cut down your opponent. You basically said he’s worth fighting injured and I can beat him. How good is he then?”
Whether you agree with Barnett’s take on the differences between Cain and Stipe or not, his points on this being Werdum’s big chance to get his money fights is probably spot on. Hardcore fans may be just as excited for Werdum vs. Miocic, but Velasquez is one of the few established name fighters at heavyweight. For Werdum he may have seen this new fight as a chance of missing bigger for a dangerous short notice opponent. And that just wasn’t a risk worth taking.