Barnett: ‘I can stand with anyone’
Josh Barnett handily defeated Sergei Kharitonov Saturday night, earning his place in the finals of Strikeforce’s heavyweight grand prix However,…
Josh Barnett handily defeated Sergei Kharitonov Saturday night, earning his place in the finals of Strikeforce’s heavyweight grand prix
However, the American looked somewhat shaky early on while standing in the pocket with the heavy-handed Kharitonov. While Barnett appeared to be mildly hurt by some of the Kharitonov’s punches, The Warmaster asserted afterward that he was simply biding his time.
You’ve got to [engage in the standup]. Every fight starts on the feet.
“If you want to send me to K-1, I can fight over there. I’ve sparred and trained with guys who are K-1 grand prix-level guys and done just fine.
“[Kharitonov] landed a couple of OK shots. He threw a nice jab and an uppercut, but I didn’t let any of it really land clean. You’re going to get hit. That’s the name of the game. [The plan was to] draw him in enough and [let him] overextend and then take him down.
You don’t just throw a left hook and then pray for it to land. Some people do, and sometimes it works, but when you get to the top level, you need to throw what’s appropriate when you’ve set up for it. When you see him give that opening to you, you catch that timing.
“I can stand with anybody, but we’re not in there to do just one thing. It’s mixed martial arts. How do you cut all of the strengths off of your opponent and then put him into his [weakest area]?”
