Josh Barnett on declining contract: Zuffa was unwilling to give me something that they gave Eddie Alvarez
It looks like the Dreams of fight fans wanting to see “The Warmaster” make his triumphant return to the octagon have been inevitably crushed. Recently declining an offer made to him by the UFC, Josh Barnett will no doubt be looking for employment elsewhere.
According to a statement made by Dana White at a post-fight media scrum for UFC on Fuel 7, Barnett was slated to fight Junior dos Santos as his long awaited octagon return.
Barnett’s manager was recently on UFC-contract-eddie-alvarez-mma”>MMA Fighting’s series “The MMA Hour” to share the reason why his client declined the offer. Offering a statement by Josh Barnett himself that read:
“I was excited to fight Junior. I thought he was a favorable match up for me, but Zuffa was unwilling to give me something that they gave Eddie Alvarez. No disrespect to Eddie, but I felt it was fair to give it to me as well. Although things seem to be working out well for me, I feel bad for the fans. They wanted me to fight certain guys in the UFC and I really wanted to give them those fights. Once we get the deal we are working on done, the fight the fans scream for will be lost forever.”
With a rather vague statement made regarding his future, it is unknown whether he’ll continue to compete in MMA or simply take up a career in Japanese pro-wrestling. It’s also difficult to ascertain what contract stipulation he was referring to as there were many types of bonuses and incentives involved.
What do you think fight fans? What was it that caused him to decline the offer? And where do you expect we’ll be seeing Barnett next? Let us know in the comments!
