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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Now that he's signed with the UFC, Josh Barnett's ready to go on a tear, verbally and in the cage. He's already begun the former, dropping a number of quotable lines in an interview with Steph Daniels at BloodyElbow.com. That included picks for this weekend's UFC 160 event, featuring two big heavyweight fights.
Here's how Barnett sees Junior dos Santos vs. Mark Hunt and Cain Velasquez vs. "Bigfoot" Silva II playing out:
JDS-Hunt: "I'm gonna go with Hunt, just because I like the guy. He's got a wicked right hand, good kickboxing, and a good jaw. The key will be whether he can close the distance and keep it on the feet. I would not be surprised in the least if dos Santos does actually take him down, although we've never seen much of a takedown game out of him. I don't know how well he can execute and change up his strategy for the ring. Mark has gotten better with his takedown defense over the last five or six fights.
On the feet, Junior has got reach, he's very quick, he's got a very good jab. He's a heavyweight, so he can always knock you out, but he's not known for being a knockout puncher. That being said, if he can stay active and mobile, and just out of reach for most of the fight, he can win on points. I think it will come down to how close and how aggressive and how quick Hunt's feet are in terms of closing the gap.
Velasquez-Bigfoot: Cain is going to win again by TKO in the first or second. That's just too much speed for Bigfoot. If he keeps executing his single leg takedowns off his jab and right hand, I just don't see Bigfoot being able to do much with him. It'snot gonna ever be a submission scenario because I just don't think Cain is going to stay around long enough to allow Bigfoot to really grapple with him.
Bigfoot has a fist the size of a pumpkin pie. If he hits ya, he can knock anybody out, but he's been prone to keeping his head and chin real high. He has some speed going in one direction, but he's not really able to change directions. I'm sure after the Cormier fight and their first fight, Cain and his trainer's have probably settled on what is probably a pretty foolproof strategy in which to elicit the difference in speed between the two.
Barnett doesn't yet have an opponent set for his return to the UFC, but that should come together sometime in the next several months.
Penick's Analysis: Barnett can be spot on when he's being serious, though much of the time he gets lost in his own gimmickry when it comes to interviews. In this spot, though, his comments on Saturday night are relevant as he's now a part of the division and the organization. We might just see him against one of those fighters in his debut, depending on what the UFC wants to do with him, though a fight with Frank Mir seems a likely fight for him later this year. As for his actual picks, he's got the fights pegged pretty well. Hunt could win by knockout if dos Santos isn't careful, and Velasquez is probably going to win in similar fashion to their first fight. We'll see if that's how it pans out on Saturday, but it's not a bad breakdown.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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