UFC Heavyweight Josh Barnett made the news earlier this week by lobbying for a fight against former UFC Heavyweight Champion Junior Dos Santos for his next outing. Barnett is coming off a loss to Travis Browne that has set back his title aspirations, and a win over Dos Santos would serve to re-kindle his title hopes.
Dos Santos is without a booking, as he was injured and was pulled from his fight with Stipe Miocic this past May. Dos Santos failed in his recent second bid to regain the title from Cain Velasquez, and though he is clearly one of the top dogs in the weight class, he is also miles away from another title shot. A win over Barnett would help to keep Dos Santos relevant near the top of the division, and it would end Barnett’s title hopes.
This is going to be a hard match to make a line for at the books. The long layoff for Dos Santos, plus the lasting image of his last outing, which was a beatdown, may have people underestimating him. That and Barnett has managed to remain relevant and popular despite a UFC return that at this point has zero momentum. In the last 2 years, ‘The Warmaster’ has spent exactly 5 minutes and 7 seconds actually fighting. This includes a win over Nandor Guelmino, a fast stop win over Frank Mir and his loss to Travis Browne. It is really hard to judge where Barnett is at this point based on that body of work, but he is on the plus side of 35 now, and if he faces a motivated Dos Santos, who is still just 29 years old, he is going to have to show a lot more than he has recently.
Kudos to barnett for calling out and lobbying to fight the toughest guy in the weight class this side of the champion. Barnett is going to have to show something to win, but his calling out of Dos Santos is telling. Throughout his career, Barnett has been one of the best fighters at preparing a game plan for a specific opponent. It is something he learned during his first UFC run when he went after Pedro Rizzo and got KO’d. Barnett doesn’t do anything that isn’t calculated, so this calling out of Dos Santos could mean Barnett sees something he can exploit. Dana, let’s make this fight happen.
