This Day in MMA History: Josh Barnett prevails in Pancrase 10th Anniversary Show
On August 31, 2003, Josh Barnett defeated Yuki Kondo via rear naked choke at the 10th Anniversary Show of Pancrase in Tokyo, Japan. Also of note on the card:
Ricardo Almeida defeated Kazuo Misaki
Akihiro Gono defeated Nilson de Castro
Sanae Kikuta defeated Elvis Sinosic
Josh Barnett feels he’s still the UFC Heavyweight Champion
Josh Barnett wants a shot at the belt he feels already belongs to him. Randy Couture, a fighter Barnett defeated in 2002, is who Barnett is aiming to square off with for the UFC heavyweight title. It would be intriguing to see if 6 years after the fact Couture has indeed improved to the point where he can defeat Barnett at 44 or 45 years of age. Barnett wrote on his website today:
Let’s get straight to it and say that Randy did a phenomenal job at UFC 74 in defending his title. As a fan and a fellow Washingtonian I was happy to see him win. But as for the title itself — it still sits in my house. No one in UFC ever beat me for it, and as far as I am concerned, no one in the UFC can be the heavyweight champion until they take that belt off of me in the cage.
At the post fight press conference, Dana White said ”there isn’t anyone in the world that can beat this guy” in reference to Randy. All this because Randy beat a guy that had less than ten fights and only one noteworthy win? That’s not even a world championship level fight, let alone reason to proclaim the winner as “unbeatable”. This comment was made even more ridiculous by the fact that I was standing right there, living proof that Randy Couture is definitely beatable.
“Unbeatable”, Dana says. If he actually believes that, I’m more than willing to step into the cage and prove him wrong. It wouldn’t even have to be for the belt. I already got the real belt. They can keep their pile of brass they purport as the UFC Heavyweight Title and put it on their next paper champ.
Couture Confident about Facing another Big Grappler Tonight
Losses to Josh Barnett and Ricco Rodriguez are what many point to as being a problem that will plague Randy Couture in his bout tonight versus Gabriel Gonzaga. Couture feels those problems are simply in the past and his learning curve has allowed them to stay there. “Those fights were about 5 or 6 years ago, I’m a much different fighter than I was then and I’ve learned some valuable lessons in those fights”, comments Couture. “As far as the size difference, I think I answred that question with Tim(Sylvia), I don’ think they get much bigger than that, so I don’t think the size is a big issue.” Couture asserts his improvement in BJJ skills in 2002 is what made him feel he could hang with sizable grapplers such as Rodriguez and Barnett; but proved to be the contrary. “I started to think I was pretty good at it”, recalls Couture on his BJJ knowledge at the time. “Until you pull guard and end up under a guy like Josh Barnett or Ricco Rodriguez, and then they can change your mind pretty fast.” The realization Couture made from those bouts was he is first and foremost a wrestler, and changed his thought process towards the ground game. “What does a wrestler do when he gets on his back? He finds a way to get the hell off of his back”, says Couture. “Instead of laying around down there looking for submissions and playing the guard game.” Since then Couture has worked more on getting off his back in those spots, and even picked up pointers from Chuck Liddell, known for his excellent scrambling ability and a 3-time foe in the Octagon for Couture. “I looked at guys like Chuck Liddell, who rarely spends much time on his back, and realized that was probably a much better tactic for me as well.”
Bigger Grapplers no longer Couture’s Kryptonite?
Photo Credit: www.thenatural.tv
With Randy Couture taking on Gabriel Gonzaga this Saturday, Couture’s past losses to Josh Barnett and Ricco Rodriguez have become a topic of discussion. Many question whether or not Couture will be able to deal with a bigger grappler such as Gonzaga–the type of fighter that made him move down to light heavyweight in 2003. When it comes to the grappling aspect of the bout, Couture feels he can get on top and handle Gonzaga’s high talent level of BJJ. He explained to Yahoo! Sports:
“He’s pretty well known for his submissions. I have a pretty good idea of what he’s going to want to do. He’s probably going to want to operate from the half guard. I have some ideas. I’ve seen some of his grappling and I kind of know tactically what he likes to do.”