Josh "The Baby-Faced Assassin" Barnett had a blog exchange on his myspace a while back that I just found. I think it's pretty interesting, so I'll give you the quick an' dirty:
About his upcoming Affliction fight with Pedro Rizzo:
"I know Pedro is no joke. Nothing to it but to hit the gym, crank the metal and prepare for war."
Then about the subject of "biting," where in pro wrestling (of which Josh is a huge fan and competitor):
"It seems after seeing the latest UFC and a few recent fights that since my prescence isn't in the octagon a couple of fighters have decided to showcase my gimmicks. We got BJ Penn licking blood after fights (See me vs. Semmy Schilt UFC 32) and Thiago Silva doing the throat slash post fight celebration (You can see that as far back as me vs. Chris Charnos at AMC). I'd like to hear what these fighter's thoughts are on this as it could just be a form of respect/dedication and not straight out biting. But I hope its the former and not the latter. In Pro Wrestling using another's gimmick to get over is highly frowned upon."
"Joe" then wrote to Josh: "I love your throat slash and the blood licking (you do the slash better then anyone). The thing is this isn't pro wrestling so it doesn't matter who does it, they can rip it off all they want if that is in fact what they are doing. With that said, BJ I know does it because he has always done it, not because of you. But the Silva thing was lame and he is not the showman you are, again who knows if it is because of you. I wouldn't worry though, you are a better showman then both of them."
Josh says in return: "Well I can't I wouldn't stop anyone from doing anything they want and I wouldn't jump the gun either on whether they are straight biting but I dare you to prove BJ did that before I did. I can assure you he didn't In fact when I did 8 years ago at UFC 32 people freaked out about it.
Maybe they think what I did was cool and just want to show love. That's cool by me.
Josh
PS. And this shit IS pro wrestling and all rules apply. Kayfabe, gimmicks, catch phrases, costumes, etc. Gotta have your own stuff."
Katja "The Knockout" Turner weighs in: "Wow Josh, I've always respected you as a fighter, but I think you are a little hasty to say that BJ Penn is biting your moves for licking the blood of Sean Sherk. Yes, true you did it to Sammy Schilt at ufc 32, but you are by far not the first to attempt such a thing. Plus BJ has been saying he was going to do that since the fight was set up. ... And come on, the neck slashing gesture, I've seen that at every fight i've ever been to by many different fighters. Even people in the crowd are making those gestures to the fighters. No offense, but I highly doubt either of these fighters saw you do it and decided that was what they were going to do the next win just because you did it first. They are both pretty common things you see at fights... It's hard not to use someone else's "gimmick" as a fighter because most likely it's already been done before. And if someone did do it to copy you, you are right, generally mimicking someone is a sign of admiration, so maybe, just maybe, you should rethink that one... I will check out your interviews, maybe that will restore my faith in you.
To which Josh says: "I think if anyone is being hasty it would have to be anybody who would say I am talking shit or dissrespecting other fighters here. Re-read what I wrote and don't lock on to the one part about "stealing my gimmick" but notice that I made first mention of it being in homage or respect to me and that I just wanted someone to ask them to here what they said.
No one can claim to be the first to do ANYTHING in this sport but, in terms of modern MMA I have made the throat slash gesture as my calling card. The licking the blood thing? I didn't say I was gonna do it, brag it up, or pre-plan it. It was completely spur of the moment and all from the gut. It wasn't a true "gimmick" but none until BJ have ever done it on the big stage since."
After all that - there were plenty otehr people who posted in his blog that I didn't reprint here - it makes me wonder ... did Barnett have 'em all snowed? He's so big on pro wrestling, was he "in character" or "kayfabe" as they say, the entire time, making people think he really cared that someone else was copying his gestures, just to generate hype???
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