Josh Barnett became the latest UFC heavyweight to drop his name in the hat of fighters interested in a match-up against Brock Lesnar, should the former champion return to MMA.
While it is certainly a fight that interests him – one that he believes would garner “huge business” for the promotion – he is aware that calling out Lesnar has become the latest trend in the MMA landscape.
“I always put my voice out there in terms of wanting that fight,” Barnett told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour. “But then again, at this point, I think it just sounds like I’m joining the chorus of all these MMA heavyweight that have all, it’s kind of same thing as CM Punk, these guys are all out there running their mouths saying they want to beat Punk or beat Lesnar, because they think it’s an easy payday, because they think they see some lack of ability in their MMA game because of their not being fighters for their whole life.”
However, Barnett’s interest in a bout against Lesnar is more calculated than that; as a pro-wrestler himself, Barnett saw an interesting clash of styles in that potential match-up that could have been marketed accordingly.
“I think of it as the business side of things,” he said. “Not the business side of oh, I’m going to make so much money, but the business side of two pro wrestlers, the styles, seeing the two of us go out it is because people will find interest in it and the fight will be interesting itself.
Whether or not he faces Lesnar, Barnett revealed that he is prepared to end his self-inflicted hiatus from MMA and return to the octagon as soon as the UFC can book him in a fight.
“It’s just going to have to take a bit of time until they have an opponent for me and a set date. But we are in talks and we’re in constant connection. They’ll let me know as soon as we can get something going.”
Transcription taken from MMAFighting.com
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