Josh Barnett – photo by Esther Lin for Strikeforce
On Saturday night, former UFC heavyweight champ Josh ‘The Warmaster’ Barnett (31-6) will step into the Stikeforce cage for the promotions final show in Oklahoma.
Barnett faces Austrian Nandor ‘The Hun’ Guelmino (11-3-1), a fighter on a seven fight win streak but whose most notable opponent was kickboxer Semmy Schilt, someone Barnett had beaten twice in mixed martial arts bouts.
So come Saturday night, win or lose, Barnett has an uncertain future laying ahead of him.
Many of the victors from the Oklahoma City event will find themselves with UFC contracts, but not so for Barnett. ‘The Warmaster’ and UFC president Dana White have some previous history with one another and may preclude Barnett from even being offered a chance to return to the UFC.
Barnett spoke about the fight with Guelmino and a possible return to the UFC in a recent interview with Sherdog Radio Network’s “Beatdown” Show. Here are a few quotes from that interview.
On whether he would have rather fought a UFC heavyweight: “Who cares. Whoever was willing to fight. I don’t know. Maybe they asked some UFC heavies? Maybe they didn’t? I wasn’t a part of any of this process. I just know that they came to me and they go, ‘You’ve got a fight and this guy said he’s going to kick your ass.’ That’s as much motivation as I need for anything.”
On whether he thinks he could fight in the UFC again for Dana White: “I just do my job. To be honest, he’s somewhat the boss of the place I’m working right now. I don’t really know even how much direct contact I would have, even if I was in the UFC, with Dana necessarily. They have a whole slew of employees working for them. I don’t really think about that sort of thing. I just think about being a more efficient and brutal killing machine, and everything else should be just fine.”
The final Strikeforce event, Strikeforce: Marquardt vs. Saffiedine takes place this weekend (Jan. 12, 2013) at the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Barnett enters the bout on a loss having lost in the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix Final to Daniel Cormier by decision last May. That defeat ended an eight fight win streak for ‘The Warmaster.’
Guelmino has won seven straight, including five finishes by TKO or by submission. ‘The Hun’ was last in action this past October at a World Free Fight Challenge show in Slovenia picking up a unanimous decision win.