Being out for two years didn’t seem to show for Josh Barnett, who hacked out a unanimous decision win over Roy Nelson at UFC Fight Night 75 in Saitama, Japan.
Barnett showed no rust at all against ‘Big Country’, employing a fluid attack that included slick combo punching and calculated body blows. In the end, the score cards had it 50-45, 48-47, 48-47 in favor of Barnett who was visibly winded in the end.
“Clinch work wasn’t good enough tonight; nothing I did in here was good enough, but it was a nice starting point” Barnett said in an interview after the fight.
Despite downplaying his masterful performance, his advantage over Nelson was clear. Nelson has not gone over 15 minutes in his previous fights and apparently that all showed in the later rounds. Nelson was himself winded in the stretch and pinned his hopes of luckily landing a big punch, which never happened.
Barnett deserves credit for that, avoiding the stand-up attack of Nelson and resorting to clinches against the cage to neutralize the one-time power shots that Nelson was notorious for.
When the smoke cleared, Barnett paid tribute to Nelson, calling him a warrior and someone he will definitely be an asset in the UFC.
"We wanted to give you a finish. Roy Nelson is a champ. It's not about belts, it's about the way people fight. Roy Nelson fights like he means it. He's a f---ing warrior. He's the kind of people we need in the UFC. That's what people want to see" added Barnett after the fight.
The win was Barnett’s first since he topped UFC champion Frank Mir back in August, 2013. Following a knockout loss in December of the same year to Travis Browne, the 39-year-old heavyweight took a 21-month absence.
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