Despite several notable awards naming UFC heavyweight champ Cain Velasquez as “Fighter of the Year,” former champion Josh Barnett (26-5) disagrees.
“The Baby Faced Assassin” is scheduled to take part in the upcoming Strikeforce World Grand Prix heavyweight tournament. He’s been slotted to face Brett Rogers in the opening quarterfinal round at an unannounced date.
Barnett recently spoke to MMAjunkie.com about the tournament and why he feels the winner will be crowned the Worlds #1 heavyweight. Naturally the subject of comparing the top heavyweights from Strikeforce and the UFC came up, Barnett offered his thoughts on Velasquez but feels he wasn’t deserving of the 2010 Fighter of the Year honor.
“I’m not saying that Velasquez isn’t any good,” Barnett said. “I think he’s showing great skills as an MMA fighter, and his development has come along really well. He’s looking really tough. I don’t think one fight makes you Fighter of the Year,” said Barnett, referencing Velasquez’s 2010 wins over Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Lesnar. “I’ll go on record and say Nogueira is punchy now. He’s a guy who lived on his chin in terms of fighting, and he could take inordinate amounts of punishment and survive. But your body has such a limitation for that, and eventually you can’t take shots like that and weather the storm and come back. Your brain has just been battered way too much, and with Nogueira, I think that’s the case.”