(Props: Ariel Helwani)
“You know what, it was not the most exciting, but in terms of from where I was at, it was perfect. Basically, I put him on ground, and after I started feeling him out, feeling his energy underneath me, I knew that he had a lot of umph, he had a lot of guts, he had a lot of gusto, so any opening, any transition, any big movement, it was going to be met by a lot of explosive force.
We could then end up in some scrambles, spend energy I don’t want to, it’s unnecessary, so instead, get him bucking, get him using that energy. And I have quite heavy hips, which is a very common staple of catch-as-catch-can [wrestling], wearing people out — not just with strikes or submissions or holds — but with your overall body positioning.
So I just put that crush on him that whole fight, or at least that whole first round. And I could hear his labored breathing, his wind, his energy, everything just collapsing. So I knew come second round he was going to be thinking more about ‘don’t drown on the ground’, and then I could open up and start hitting him with stuff.”
While Alistair Overeem wasn’t particularly satisfied with his Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix fight against Fabricio Werdum last weekend, Josh Barnett feels he did everything he needed to do against Brett Rogers during his return to high-profile competition. Following his second-round submission victory, War Master Barnett will meet Sergei Kharitonov in the semi-finals of the tournament (date and location TBA), and feels he’s the front-runner to win it all, obviously. Would you agree with him at this point?
