Dana White says he wants to sign Josh Barnett if he defeats Fedor at Affliction Trilogy

Published on: 14th June, 2009

Dana White says he wants to sign Josh Barnett if he defeats Fedor at Affliction Trilogy  | read this item

We know that the UFC has tried to sign Fedor Emelianenko since PRIDE collapsed and Zuffa purchased their assets so we could finally see him make a run at the Heavyweight title. But, there is a former UFC Heavyweight champion that Dana White has never gone after, Josh Barnett. Barnett showed up for UFC 74 when Randy Couture defended his title against Gabriel Gonzaga and made some statements that did not sit too well with Dana White.

Barnett wrote in his personal blog that he felt no one could ever claim to be the “real” UFC Heavyweight champion until they beat him in the Octagon. He said he was the “real” UFC Heavyweight champion because no one ever took the title from him after defeating Randy Couture at UFC 36.

As some of you may or may not know Barnett tested positive for steroids and was stripped of the Heavyweight title. Couture would not accept the title after the UFC attempted to give it back to him, because Barnett was his former training partner.

‘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”.

As you can imagine these comments did not sit too well with Dana White, who fired back at his claims at the UFC 75 conference call.

“Nobody gives a shit about Josh Barnett, especially not me”.

Now it appears that White may have softened his stance on Barnett and may be willing to sign the former UFC Heavyweight champion to a contract if he defeats Fedor Emelianenko at Affliction “Trilogy”. White was asked by a fan in a Q&A session about signing the former Heavyweight champion and he expressed his interest.

“If Josh Barnett beats Fedor, obviously I’d be interested in signing Josh Barnett. If he beats Fedor, obviously, he is one of the best in the world.”

While we know that Dana White wants to stack the Heavyweight division, I do not think Affliction will let Barnett go without a fight. Especially, if he defeats Fedor Emelianenko at Affliction “Trilogy”.

Fights between Josh Barnett and Brock Lesnar, Frank Mir or a rematch against Randy Couture would all be great fights. We don’t know how much Barnett is willing to sign with the UFC again, but I am sure he would be a welcomed addition by fans regardless if he defeats Fedor Emelianenko on August 1.

Props on Dana White’s comments go out to URDirt.com reader Fujita.

 Alberto Martinez "The Narcisist" is the founding owner of URDirt.com. If you would like to post on the front page or in our New "Fan Jab" section all you need to do is register. Read more from this author

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