I'm not sure if its been posted or not, but here you go.
http://mmamadness.com/insight.html?newsitem_id=126
MMA Madness Q&A: One-on-one with Josh Barnett
Josh Barnett is a UFC veteran and a PRIDE veteran. He is also considered one of the world’s top heavyweights. However, “The Babyface Assassin” currently has no home and hasn’t fought in close to a year. MMA Madness’ Ben Zeidler spoke to Barnett by phone last week to find out about his fighting status, his beef with Dana White, and more. Here are highlights of that interview.
MMA Madness: When can we expect to see you fighting again?
Barnett: The nearest I can think of is the Imagination TV show Pancrase: Legends of MMA. You can catch some of my matches there on November 7th for 15 weeks. But for some live in-the-ring action, I'm talking to some companies right now and we've got some things on the table. But there's nothing that's absolute, nothing to say that I'll be definitely fighting at a certain time.
MMA Madness: Can you tell us any of those organizations that you're currently looking at?
Barnett: Umm…all of them. [Laughs]
MMA Madness: Is there any chance that you could wind up back in UFC someday?
Barnett: There's always a chance. It's just about the right offer, that's all.
MMA Madness: How soon?
Barnett: The UFC? I don't know, maybe you should call Dana [White] up and ask him. [Laughs]
MMA Madness: Why is there such a big conflict between you and Dana?
Barnett: When I think somebody says something that's B.S., or if I think that something isn't being done up to par, then I say something. That's probably why. I've been in this business longer then he has, and there's just a certain amount of respect that I expect, and I don't necessarily feel like I get that from him all of the time. He says some things and that's fine. He's allowed to make any statements he wants; I'm going to make a rebuttal. It's up to him if he wants to get real torqued off about it, not me.
MMA Madness: What do you think about your friend Renato Sobral being kicked out of UFC?
Barnett: I think it was totally lame. I think it was a totally B.S. deal. I think it was unnecessary to the level at what they did. I don't think it follows any of the protocol that is standard for other situations like this. And I think that there was other motivation behind it.
MMA Madness: People have done worse things in the cage than Sobral’s choke. I know that B.J. Penn's choke on Jens Pulver was longer than Sobral's choke on Heath, and Penn didn't get punished at all.
Barnett: No he didn't, and the only difference being Jens didn't go out. That's the only thing that I can see, but beyond that all I've heard is that they hugged after word. But David Heath on his way out said he respected Babalu -- he had a lot of respect for him. So what's the difference there?
MMA Madness: What punishment do you think Sobral should've gotten?
Barnett: They had to punish him? Some sort of a fine if they had to, but not to that extent.
MMA Madness: You've been known to speak Japanese and even use a Japanese theme as your entrance. Can you talk a little about the connection you have with your Japanese fans?
Barnett: Um…a psychic link…
MMA Madness: Can you elaborate?
Barnett: Yeah, I just really enjoy the culture. I really enjoy other cultures all around the world. And I think that knowing more than one language is a really rich thing to have in someone's life. I think that we've just clicked. Being on the level of nerddom that I'm on, it really talks to them. I love fighting over there, and I love the great positive vibes that I get from the Japanese fans.
MMA Madness: In the first issue of FIGHT! Magazine, you were listed as one of the five people who could possibly beat Fedor. Why do you think your paths have never crossed?
Barnett: At this point, it's the same reason why I haven't gotten into the ring yet, just politics and contract stuff. But right now it's not my fight. My management is out there doing stuff -- not me -- but we'll get it done.
MMA Madness: If given the opportunity, how do you feel you would match up?
Barnett: I think that I'd match up pretty well with him. I'd be surprised if anybody else could do much going against Fedor. But there's an X-factor in that we're friends and that we respect each other so much, which will bring better fighting spirit out of both of us.
MMA Madness: You've beaten everyone from Randy Couture to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. What's the biggest win of your career?
Barnett: Yuki Kondo. I won the King of Pancrase with that win; it was in Ryogoku, and I had all my teammates from New Japan Pro Wrestling there. It was just an awesome thing.
MMA Madness: Do you think that you could defeat current UFC Heavyweight Champion Couture?
Barnett: Absolutely. Absolutely. I think I could finish him in two rounds more or less, but not because he won't be out there doing his thing. It'll be a big fight, but I think our styles favor me. But he's doing really well for himself, and it's fun to watch him out there and to cheer for him. And if it does ever happen, then I'll have to put the fan in me aside and just go out there and take care of business.
MMA Madness: You're a well-known critic of the 10-point system, and lately, we've been seeing that come under fire with some questionable decisions or rounds that would be scored 10-8. Can you talk a little about that?
Barnett: Part of the biggest problem in MMA right now is that the submission isn't given a lot of weight in the United States. That's a huge detriment to me. I think that MMA fights should be judged on not so much control, but who comes closest to finishing a fight. If you are scoring knockdowns, mounted positions, raining sizeable punches that are causing damage, or near submissions, that should count a lot more than just taking down someone a lot. Not to mention just going for a submission means you're trying to finish the fight. People that are just on top picking away [aren’t] trying to finish a fight. They should be rewarded as such. I think that the PRIDE system was really the best system. And, off course the human error factor comes into it as well. Sometimes people make mistakes when they're judging. People are going to disagree with the judges, and that's something that people are going to have to deal with. But those criteria that I mentioned before are the most important.
MMA Madness: Did you find competition in PRIDE or UFC to be tougher?
Barnett: When I fought there, definitely PRIDE.
MMA Madness: Why is that?
Barnett: I don't know, at the time they were just better fighters, they were better athletes, and they were better fights. Whether they're having success outside of PRIDE is another thing, but at the time they were the cream of the crop.
MMA Madness: Well, the PRIDE fighters aren't doing very well in the UFC. Why do you think this is?
Barnett: I don't know, maybe all of that money that they're making now is allowing them to party all the time. I've been really surprised with some of these fights that I've seen. I have no idea.
