- Joined
- Sep 8, 2010
- Messages
- 830
- Reaction score
- 4
I genuinely believe Josh has the skill to defeat anyone at heavyweight. He did get subbed by Rothwell unfortunately, however he underestimated Rothwell's grappling & everyone get's caught. Saying Josh isn't that great of a grappler because he got subbed by an inferior grappler is equivalent to saying Jason DeLucia is a superior grappler to Masakatsu Funaki because he subbed him once or that Bob Sapp is a superior striker to Ernesto Hoost because he knocked him out twice. Even the best grapplers or strikers can get caught by inferior opponents. He's still a world-class grappler & could definitley sub Werdum if they were to ever fight.
That said, I thought he clearly took round 1 but it seemed in the second round he was fading for some reason. I know his Erik was telling him to clinch up with Ben, which is where Josh has always been strong at, but instead he goes for a single & eventually gets caught. He should continued to stick & move & clinch up with Rothwell and try a trip takedown from there but alas no.
Despite his early days as a doughy dude from Seattle, Josh has always been a top 10 heavyweight fighter with a strong (& eventually world-class) ground game, above average striking, physical strength & durability as well. He hasn't taken a lot of punishment in most of his fights, just the Rizzo, Cro Cop, Cormier & Browne losses & that's only 5 fights (clearly ignoring the first Cro Cop fight where he sustained a bizarre shoulder injury). Neither does Josh try to constantly stand & exchange blows with his opponents so his style has lent itself to enable him to compete in the sport for such a long time.
I acknowledge his career is slightly tainted due to being busted thrice for PEDs, however despite that he has consistently shown to be an elite martial artist. In terms of his current standing, he's seemed to lost a lot of his agility & more importantly his motivation (he has claimed that he's not interested in fighting for the belt) plus he can make bank doing films & other ventures like comics I suppose, however I'm sure if he becomes really motivated again somehow he can definitely rise back to the top & reclaim the belt he never lost.
I know there's a lot of Barnett haters on Sherdog & I'll get flamed for this post since a fighter is only as good as their last fight, however I believe Josh has shown consistentcy in his career as well as the fact that he has the skills to defeat anyone at HW. I believe at this point in Josh's career it's all about how motivated he is and proper gameplanning.
That said, I thought he clearly took round 1 but it seemed in the second round he was fading for some reason. I know his Erik was telling him to clinch up with Ben, which is where Josh has always been strong at, but instead he goes for a single & eventually gets caught. He should continued to stick & move & clinch up with Rothwell and try a trip takedown from there but alas no.
Despite his early days as a doughy dude from Seattle, Josh has always been a top 10 heavyweight fighter with a strong (& eventually world-class) ground game, above average striking, physical strength & durability as well. He hasn't taken a lot of punishment in most of his fights, just the Rizzo, Cro Cop, Cormier & Browne losses & that's only 5 fights (clearly ignoring the first Cro Cop fight where he sustained a bizarre shoulder injury). Neither does Josh try to constantly stand & exchange blows with his opponents so his style has lent itself to enable him to compete in the sport for such a long time.
I acknowledge his career is slightly tainted due to being busted thrice for PEDs, however despite that he has consistently shown to be an elite martial artist. In terms of his current standing, he's seemed to lost a lot of his agility & more importantly his motivation (he has claimed that he's not interested in fighting for the belt) plus he can make bank doing films & other ventures like comics I suppose, however I'm sure if he becomes really motivated again somehow he can definitely rise back to the top & reclaim the belt he never lost.
I know there's a lot of Barnett haters on Sherdog & I'll get flamed for this post since a fighter is only as good as their last fight, however I believe Josh has shown consistentcy in his career as well as the fact that he has the skills to defeat anyone at HW. I believe at this point in Josh's career it's all about how motivated he is and proper gameplanning.