“The Baby-Faced Assassin” entered the Octagon for the first time at UFC 28 against The Pit’s Gan McGee (Pictures). Barnett toppled McGee late in the second when it appeared stamina was a factor. He returned to UFC 30 won many fans over going toe-to-toe with Brazilian heavyweight Pedro Rizzo (Pictures).
Barnett was KO’d but not before putting himself on the UFC map. Josh submitted the Open Weight King of Pancrase Semmy Schilt (Pictures) at UFC 32 and punished Bobby Hoffman (Pictures) for a second time at UFC 34. He seemed poised to be the next great heavyweight and got his shot at the title at UFC 36 against Randy Couture (Pictures). Barnett won, stopping the former champ with strikes in the second round, but was later stripped due to steroid use.
Feeling the sting of the stigma associated with his name, Josh went to on to do professional wrestling in Japan full-time. While there, he fought a MMA bout against Jimmy Ambriz (Pictures) on a New Japan Pro Wrestling card. Barnett pounded then KOTC Super Heavyweight Champion Ambriz in just 3 minutes.
Josh submitted KOP Yuki Kondo (Pictures) in the Pancrase 10th Anniversary show and choked out Yoshiki Takahashi (Pictures) at another New Japan show. With his MMA career back on track, Barnett submitted Semmy Schilt (Pictures) for a second time in their Inoki Bom-Be-Ye ’03 rematch and blasted Rene Rooze (Pictures) in his K-1 MMA debut.
At PRIDE 28 Josh met Mirko Filipovic (Pictures) and suffered a freak injury, forcing him to submit to after just 46 seconds of battle. After a year away from the sport, Barnett faced “Cro Cop” a second time. Though the bout went the distance, there was no question as to the victor; Barnett was dominated and he admitted he didn’t prepare properly. Josh earned his way into the PRIDE Absolute GP with a submission win over Yoshida Dojo fighter Kazuhiro Nakamura (Pictures) at PRIDE 31.
EMELIANENKO: Combat Sambo World Champion Aleksander Emelianenko (Pictures) is 8-1 in MMA and trains out of the Red Devil Fight Club with Roman Zentsov (Pictures), Sergei Bytchkov, Martin Malkhasyan, Ibragim Magomedov (Pictures), Andrei Semenov (Pictures), Amar Suloev (Pictures) and his brother Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures).
Aleksander had been training as part of the Russian Top Team with RINGS veteran Volk Han and PRIDE veterans Iouri Kotchkine, Mikhail Illoukhine (Pictures), Andre Kopylov, Achmed Labasanov and Bazigit Atajev but he and Fedor left for greener pastures with the Red Devils. He’s 6’ 5” and about 250 pounds.
Aleksander made his PRIDE Bushido 1 against former Chute Boxe fighter Assuerio Silva. He traded with the large Brazilian striker and though he didn’t drop Assuerio (Aleksander was in lousy shape), he showed no fear throwing heavy lumber and brought Silva to the mat at will. Emelianenko had enough power to stop Silva’s takedowns and muscled several reversals crashing the Chute Boxe fighter to the floor.
Silva turned it up a little in the second round and achieved mount and a rear naked choke from behind but Emelianenko did enough to fend off the choke. Aleksander won a split decision in a somewhat uninspired performance from both men.
He next fought in Antonio Inoki’s Bom Be Ye 2003 show giving tough Brazilian Angelo Araujo and IVC 14 tournament finalist (lost to Alex Stiebling (Pictures)) a rare loss (holds wins over Chute Boxe fighters “Cyborg” and De Castro). Araujo suffered a bout-ending cut in the second round. Emelianenko returned to PRIDE Bushido 3 to face part of the Australian “Twin Tigers” in the form of striker Matt Foki.
Aleksander appeared to have improved his stamina and stopped Foki with a choke in the first round. At the PRIDE Final Conflict show Emelianenko faced his greatest competition to date, the always-dangerous Mirko Filipovic (Pictures). It wasn’t long before the Russian fell victim to the patented high kick of “Cro Cop” and he was put on the canvas.
Emelianenko beat Carlos Barreto by decision on the M-1 Middleweight Grand Prix show and returned to PRIDE 28 to stop a pumped up James Thompson (Pictures). The battling Brit came out with a head of steam and took the Russian by surprise but he quickly subdued sent packing in the first round.
PRIDE Bushido 6 brought the challenge of another muscular big man — and it finished with similar results. Ricardo Morais (Pictures), affectionately known as “The Mutant” had the size to challenge Emelianenko but that was it. In a fight that lasted less than 30 seconds, the Brazilian giant proved to be no match for the rising Russian star. Dutchman Rene Rooze (Pictures) tried to bring his kickboxing skills to the Russian at the Bushido Europe: Rotterdam Rumble but he was knocked unconscious in less than 30 ticks.
In his most recent outing, Emelianenko submitted Olympic judo gold medalist Pawel Nastula (Pictures) late in the first round at the PRIDE Shockwave ’05 show.
MY PICK: I really like this match-up. Both guys really have something to prove and whoever wins will still be a dark horse to win the tourney. I’m going with Emelianenko. Barnett certainly has more to lose and quite a bit to prove at this level and in the PFC. He has not been the force in PRIDE that many felt (myself included) and hoped he’d be. Emelianenko has one loss and that was to “Cro Cop” a year and a half ago when it was still hard to tell if Aleksander was interested in fighting. Since that bout he’s had three KO’s, a submission and a decision victory. In the same span of time Barnett has gone 1-2. I don’t know if he’s ready for someone like Aleksander at this stage of the game. If I’m wrong, I won’t be that upset either. Emelianenko by TKO in the first round.