MMA CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: He has only fought MMA for PRIDE.
PFC EXPERIENCE: Was submitted via armbar by Hidehiko Yoshida (Pictures) at PRIDE Critical Countdown 2004. Stopped Dan Bobish (Pictures) with strikes at PRIDE 28. Beat Wanderlei Silva (Pictures) by decision at PRIDE Shockwave 2004. Defeated Mirko Filipovic (Pictures) by decision at PRIDE Shockwave 2005. Knocked out Yosuke Nishijima (Pictures) at PRIDE 31 and Tsuyoshi Kohsaka (Pictures) at PRIDE Total Elimination Absolute 2006.
WHAT HE BRINGS TO THE BOUT: Very heavy hands. Hunt is big and difficult to move around. His low center of gravity and tremendous girth for his height makes it hard to take him down as well. Mark has learned enough on the ground to stay out of trouble with smaller or less ground-oriented opponents. There’s no mystery here. Hunt likes to pound people.
BARNETT: 6’3”, 250 pounds, 29, Seattle, Washington, known as “The Baby Faced Assassin”
BACKGROUND: Josh is a former UFC heavyweight champion, former Pacific Northwest super heavyweight Pankration champion, the winner of the Super Brawl 13 eight-man tournament and an open-weight King of Pancrase. He competed in the ’99 and ‘00 Abu Dhabi Submission Wrestling Championships, losing both years in the opening round to the eventual champion of both tournaments, Mark Kerr (Pictures). He carries a pro MMA record of 17-3.
MMA CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: Submitted Juha Tuhkasaari and John Marsh and beat Bobby Hoffman (Pictures) by decision to win the Super Brawl 13 eight-man tournament. Caught Dan Severn (Pictures) with an armbar at Super Brawl 16. Stopped Gan McGee (Pictures) with strikes at UFC 28. Was knocked out by Pedro Rizzo (Pictures) at UFC 30. Submitted Semmy Schilt (Pictures) via armbar at UFC 32 and caught Schilt again by armbar at the Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye Festival in 2003. Stopped Bobby Hoffman (Pictures) with strikes at UFC 34 and ended Randy Couture (Pictures)’s reign as UFC heavyweight champion with strikes at UFC 36. Submitted Yuki Kondo (Pictures) via rear choke at the Pancrase 10th Anniversary show.
PFC EXPERIENCE: 2-2. Submitted due to injury to Mirko Filipovic (Pictures) at PRIDE 28. He also lost a unanimous decision to Filipovic at PRIDE 30. Submitted Kazuhiro Nakamura (Pictures) via rear choke at PRIDE 31 and Aleksander Emelianenko (Pictures) via keylock at PRIDE Total Elimination Absolute 2006.
WHAT HE BRINGS TO THE BOUT: He brings a better than average stand-up game for a heavyweight and welcomes a battle on the mat. His knowledge of the submission game runs deep and he tends to finish most of his competition on the ground. He moves well for his size but conditioning is sometimes a factor. He’s a big showman. He weaves back-and-forth from MMA to Japanese pro-wrestling and sometimes that makes it difficult to know where his heart lies.
OVERALL OPINION OF MATCH-UP: This should be entertaining. Both fighters looked good in their last bout. I have to say that even with 20 MMA bouts under his belt and four fights in PRIDE it is still difficult to know how far Barnett can truly go in this sport. I think for me it is the pro wrestling thing. How can he be training to pound someone in a tournament one month and getting ready for a “performance” (physically demanding and risky, but not the same thing) a month or two later? But then again, he can wrestle and make an even better living for longer than he can fight.
As for the match-up, Barnett has faced big strikers before: Hoffman, Marsh, Roose, Emelianenko and Schilt (twice), all of whom he beat. And then there was “Cro Cop.” Aside from Semmy and Mirko the overall quality of skill was not like that of Hunt. In fact Hunt likely already has a better ground game all of those fighters, save Filipovic and Emelianenko. Josh will likely try to trade with Hunt because Kohsaka had some success on the feet with that tactic but TK didn’t have the size Barnett has. That could be part of the difference here. Hunt isn’t going to trade submissions on the mat. He going to sprawl and avoid the ground at all costs. Barnett’s ability to take Hunt down will likely dictate this fight.