Former UFC Heavyweight champ Josh Barnett made short work of Nandor Guelmino in his final Strikeforce bout at Strikeforce: Marquardt vs. Saffiedine in Oklahoma City last night. Following the bout he did an entertaining in-cage interview with Pat Miletich in which he made it clear that he has struck no deals with the UFC and that his future is an open question.
In a follow up interview with Ariel Helwani, Barnett elaborated on those comments:
"I want to fight though and the UFC has a fantastic lineup of people that I could go out there and compete against and it has a huge market share. It has all the market share, I'm being honest. I'm not here to kowtow to anybody. I don't serve anyone. I serve no master. I'm sure the best-case scenario can be made to happen. It's just up to whoever wants to pay my price."
Barnett may be wanting more money than the UFC cares to pay for a fighter who's unlikely to win another title but would be a formidable gatekeeper in the HW division. There is also a defensive element to re-signing Barnett that should be considered, namely that his pro-wrestling experience makes him a uniquely intriguing fighter to Spike TV where he could follow Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal's lead and do pro-wrestling on TNA and fight MMA for Bellator.
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