Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Saucy Suplex & Heavyweight Musings

Josh Barnett, another top fighters who has been on ice since the demise of PRIDE, finally returned to the ring last week. After taking more than a year off from MMA, Barnett returned to competition at World Victory Road's inaugural event, "Sengoku." He took on Japanese judoku Hidehiko Yoshida, and managed to pull-off a bone-crunching suplex early in the first round. Despite the sweet move, Barnett (unsurprisingly) showed some ring rust in his return. Watch the video below.

Burning question of the day: which promoter will be able to unite the top heavyweights (one a free agent, one in legal limbo, one with WVR, one the UFC champion) under one roof? Sadly, I'm not sure anyone will, but if I had to bet, I'd say DREAM, despite the fact that they don't have any of them currently signed (with the possible exception of Cro Cop, who I'd say has some work to do before he's "top" again), based on their apparent willingness to spend, potentially large audience, and the fact that three of the top four prefer fighting in Japan.

Follow up: how much would you pay to see the following four man tournament?

Fedor Vs. Randy
Big Nog Vs. Josh Barnett

Check out the suplex at 1:19 into the video below.

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