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« | Home | »

Josh Barnett vs. Gilbert Yvel is an embarrassing fight to book in Affliction

By Zach Arnold | December 3, 2008

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Words cannot describe my first emotions when reading this report that Josh Barnett, one of the world’s best heavyweights, is going to face the useless Gilbert Yvel on January 24th for the Affliction 2 event in Anaheim, California at the Honda Center.

First off, you could not book a more worthless fight for Barnett than this encounter. Gilbert Yvel, as I alluded to in an earlier post, meant something in 1997 when he was fighting in RINGS. He has never meant anything in the American MMA scene and never will mean anything in the American MMA scene. Barnett/Yvel is such a pointless fight. The only motive I could see in terms of Josh taking this fight is money and that’s it. You’re not going to elevate your career one bit by facing Gilbert Yvel.

Second, was the signing of Yvel some sort of condition for Affliction to get Emelianenko Aleksandr or others from Red Devil on the fight card?

Third, I would be surprised if the California State Athletic Commission goes ahead and sanctions this fight.

Fourth, the idea that Affliction would pay out money to even book this fight shows that they do not have a serious matchmaking philosophy right now, in my opinion. No one is interested in seeing Barnett/Yvel — not a casual fan, not a Sherdog message board poster, not anyone who is inside the business. What a waste of money and time this situation is.

Topics: Affliction, M-1, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 75 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

75 Responses to “Josh Barnett vs. Gilbert Yvel is an embarrassing fight to book in Affliction”

  1. The Gaijin says:

    Speaking of the CSAC, I was just able to read up on the NFL’s drug policy due to recent suspensions and here is something they (CSAC) and other commissions should consider adopting, so we don’t have to be bothered with hearing endless bullshit claims from “Roid Shark” Sherk and his bum buddy Dana:

    But in issuing the suspensions, the league reiterated the section of its policy that reads:

    “You and you alone are responsible for what goes into your body. Claiming that you used only legally available nutritional supplements will not help you in an appeal. … Even if they are bought over-the-counter from a known establishment, there is currently no way to be sure that they contain the ingredients listed on the packaging or have not been tainted with prohibited substances …[ ] If you take these products, you do so AT YOUR OWN RISK! For your own health and success in the league, we strongly encourage you to avoid the use of supplements altogether, or at the very least to be extremely careful about what you choose to take.”

  2. The Gaijin says:

    This fight is pure garbage. A total M-1 con job, probably used the Emelianenko brothers as leverage to get him on there. At least he’ll get destroyed, though it really proves nothing for Barnett’s purposes.

  3. Kelvin says:

    And the joke called Affliction continues

  4. Gaijin, that policy WAS reiterated to Sherk throughout the appeals process, and it’s in the laws of the CSAC. Sherk stated he didn’t know about it, and maybe the CSAC should tell fighters about those rules a bit more, but the fact is that if you are taking a load of supplements from GNC or any other over-the-counter market, 15% – 20% of those supplements are tainted.

    I specifically remember this being iterated to Sherk at one of the appeal hearings, and the CSAC still didn’t stand firm on it. Their entire board is a huge fail in my book. Garcia out of the way doesn’t help anything. In actuality, Garcia was the least lenient, but had zero power to override the board. The board has the final say, and they almost never went with his recommendations.. at least not for James Toney or Sean Sherk.

  5. Jeff says:

    Yvel with his impressive 2-7 record in PRIDE. I wonder if Josh will beat him faster than Minowa.

  6. karat3 says:

    Atleast it’s a better fight then Barnett- brett rogers, the question is will yvel get a license to compete in california?

  7. […] I’m grateful that Barnett appears to now have an opponent for the show, a fight against Gilbert Yvel is an embarrassing fight to book in Affliction. In a perfect world, Barnett wins, Fedor takes out Arlovski and a super fight ensues between them […]

  8. Affliction doesn’t understand that it’s not enough to sign great fighters. They also need to put on great fights. This is why they will fail.

  9. cyph says:

    Are anyone surprised at this? This is Barnett. He hasn’t fought anyone of note since forever, and he doesn’t want to either. This is the only reason he’s perennially top ten. The last two times he fought top tenners, he lost. He will use every excuse in the book not to fight fight top ten fighters. He never loses since he doesn’t fight anyone good.

    His excuse for not fighting Arlovski was that he was out of the country and no one could contact him. You mean his agent couldn’t contact him, the one person who should know where he is at all time? I call BS. Barnett ducks everyone under the sun and only accept fights he knows he has a good chance of winning.

  10. Asa says:

    Even for Affliction that’s bad. What the fuck happened to Brett Rogers? At least he had a KO chance against Barnett, but Yvel? Holy shit that guy’s terrible. No threat to Barnett means no fight.

    The only thing that makes sense here is them hoping Barnett finishes him spectacularly enough that he gets over and makes a Fedor fight profitable. The only problem is that the only people who know about or would have ordered this PPV aren’t gonna be tricked by that. Which I guess brings up the real question:

    Is Affliction catering to the hardcores who already know and aren’t interested or the casuals who don’t know and aren’t interested?

    Who is Affliction hoping to make money off of?

  11. klown says:

    Barnett is severely overrated (he is ludicrously ranked by most people) but Yvel is on another level altogether.

  12. Zach Arnold says:

    The last two times he fought top tenners, he lost. He will use every excuse in the book not to fight fight top ten fighters. He never loses since he doesn’t fight anyone good.

    His kryptonite is Mirko, to whom he’s lost three times. He hasn’t fought Fedor. He’s fought pretty much everyone else he could. Cheap shot on your part there in terms of devaluing Barnett’s overall career.

    His excuse for not fighting Arlovski was that he was out of the country and no one could contact him. You mean his agent couldn’t contact him, the one person who should know where he is at all time? I call BS. Barnett ducks everyone under the sun and only accept fights he knows he has a good chance of winning.

    He was in Japan at the time, and it wasn’t his excuse — it was the reason given by others in response to why Roy Nelson was booked for the CBS show instead of Arlovski.

    I’m not defending Josh here at all for this Yvel fight, but take your trolling elsewhere if you want to float that BS about him here.

  13. banter says:

    “Atleast it’s a better fight then Barnett- brett rogers”

    I thought that was at least a decent fight.

    If this fight really does happen I’ll use the time to catch up on whatever UFC is counter programming with on Spike.

    Wow what a great month of MMA we have ahead of us.

  14. cyph says:

    Really Zach? My opinion is “trolling”? I didn’t know you have a personal relationship with Josh Barnett. Let me know if attacking Barnett is off limits here at FightOpinion and I’ll go elsewhere for my “trolling.”

  15. The Gaijin says:

    Eh…

    He beat Nog who’s the “interim” UFC champion, completely dominated Monson who was in a UFC title fight not to long ago, beat Couture for the title (however tainted) and beat Mark Hunt when he was considered to be a contender in the HW division…all of this in recent memory.

    I don’t think I’d consider Barnett to be a fighter who “ducks” other top HWs, especially when you consider the fact that he’s been blackballed from the UFC.

  16. Lordschroeder says:

    Zach, cmon. Your bias for barnett is blatantly obvious. He would rather wrassel, fight losers, and trash talk than fight top 10 opponents. As well, you’ve ripped into fighters I’ve steroids, but younever have ripped into josh for testing positive and then running like a pussy to japan, the land of roids and corrupt fights. I think that it is u who is trolling.

  17. Ditch says:

    Barnett faced a bunch of top names in 2006, then PRIDE collapsed. He’s not going back to UFC. What top non-UFC names is he ducking, exactly? And since when is 2006 “forever”? He’s two shows into Affliction, and I would be stunned if they don’t plan on Barnett vs Arlovski or Fedor soon. If we get, say, 4 or 5 Affliction shows down with no sign of those fights happening, MAYBE there’s an argument for Barnett ducking top names. But at this point it’s trolling.

  18. […] but I suppose they just didn’t work out for whatever reason. If you really hate this fight, check out Zach Arnold’s thoughts on it. He hates it […]

  19. cyph says:

    Answer me this:

    Why did he never fight Fedor in all that his time in PRIDE? Is Fedor ducking him or is it the other way around?

    Mark Hunt has been terribly exposed as a pure kick boxer. Only Mirko and Wanderlei was stupid enough to stand with him. Any time somebody takes Hunt to the ground, they submitted him.

    Lets see who’s a top ten fighter that he’s beaten:

    Rizzo? Monson? Yoshida and Nakamura? These guys are light heavyweights at best. Randy Couture with the help of steroids?

    One, he’s never fought Fedor when he had all the chances in the world to fight him in Pride. You can make excuses, but if he wanted the belt, PRIDE would have made it happen. Two, he could have fought Arlovski for the chance at Fedor. I don’t know why that fell through, but the report of him unable to be contacted sounds hollow. Fights are negotiated well in advance so would have at least known that he was under consideration.

    Barnett has been ducking Fedor since forever and that goes back beyond 2006.

  20. Badguy says:

    From what i see Barnett may not completely duck top guys, but for the most part he would father wrestle in Japan and take on junk then fight top guys, he should really never be taken junk fights aside of the one offs that happen. From what we have heard is he did turn down Fedor two times now.

    I personally feel he beats Fedor, I think he has the perfect style to do so, not to mention size. I rank Barnett #2 in the world but he does drive me crazy.

    Funny how Josh Barnett can get caught using steroids, stay in Pro Wrestling and use some of those same antics in the cage and yet no one bitches about him and Lesnar quits pro wrestling because he hated the business has never tested positive for roids and people hate him for both of these reasons.

  21. Ultimo Santa says:

    “And the joke called Affliction continues”

    GIVE ME A F’ING BREAK.

    Fedor vs. Arlovski is the closest you’re going to come in 2009 to seeing a fight that determines the *actual* best heavyweight in the world.

    UFC just ran Lesnar vs. Couture, for their HW Title, and are giving Mir a title fight this month.

    If Fedor/Arlovski is a ‘joke’, then what is UFC by comparison?

    “Barnett is severely overrated (he is ludicrously ranked by most people)”

    Didn’t he neat Nogueira? And how is he NOT in the top 5?

    “Barnett has been ducking Fedor since forever and that goes back beyond 2006.”

    Ignorance is bliss.

    “younever have ripped into josh for testing positive and then running like a pussy to japan, the land of roids and corrupt fights”

    WOW…what has happened to FightOpinion?

  22. ilostmydog says:

    Well, Barnett didn’t turn down an offer to fight Fedor on this show, but he did say that a fight against him wouldn’t happen on this show for ‘personal and business reasons.’

    He also ducked Fedor at Shockwave after calling him out during the entire OW GP and the Pride USA event. When the offer to fight him finally came, he said he wasn’t going to fight at Shockwave and was going to take some time off. Then Fedor ended up fighting Hunt and Barnett ended up fighting Nogueira again.

  23. FingFangFoom says:

    Sure Barnett should be fighting top ten guys, but why is Yvel getting such hate? Yvel is a respectable 35-12-1 and currently sitting amongst the top 40 HW’s of the world. Sure he never developed much of a ground game and Barnett will probably expose that, but it isn’t like he is a not a veteran who has no clue of what’s going on in the cage/ring. He has looked good in his last 7 fights, and I highly doubt that any of you internet warriors/Zac Arnold have even bothered watching them before talking shit.

  24. Zack says:

    Ehhh, not a great matchup but I’ll admit I’m a little fired up to see Yvel live after watching him for so many years. It’s kind of like on the first Affliction show…I was REALLY bummed when Aleks didn’t fight, but then they pulled Gary Goodridge out of the woodwork. As an old school fan, even if those dudes aren’t elite or in their prime, it’s cool to see them. I would’ve rather had Barnett vs Sylvia & a Goodridge/Yvel rematch though.

  25. Chuck says:

    Even though I wholeheartedly disagree with what cyph said in his first post on this thread, I don;t think it was trolling. Just an “incorrect” opinion (::wink::).

    But, and I am NOT bashing you Zach, but it is known that Zach Arnold is tight with Josh Barnett since when Zach ran Puroresupower.com.

    But back to his opponent. Yeah, Yvel is no where near the best opponent for Barnett, but there is MUCH worse. They could have gotten Bo Cantrell, Ruben “Warpath” Villareal (I would like to see that match, just because it would be great to see Barnett suplex a fellow pro rassler in an MMA match!), John Dixon, Jimmy Ambriz, Corey Salter, Allen Goes, etc.

  26. samscaff says:

    All this hating on Barnett is absolutely ludicrous.

    Just because he never fought Fedor in Pride doesnt mean he ducked him. Its not as if you get to just fight whoever you want when you fight for a promotion.

    Sure, this Yvel fight is certainly sub-par, not to mention it will not happen because Yvel will rightfully not be licensed, but why all the hatred on Barnett for this. Again, its not his fault if this was the fight they offered him.

    Barnett is a clear top-10 HW. Anyone who says otherwise, show me your top 10 and prove it!

  27. brashleyholland says:

    I think this is a really sensible fight for Affliction to book. Its not about putting on the best possible matchup in this case, its about building their next challenger for Fedor.

    They have to be looking at Affliction 3…who else could they possibly have against Fedor but Barnett?

    So they have a choice; either they give him an easy fight with a weak but entertaining fighter like Yvel, or they put him in there with someone who has a chance, however small, of beating him or making him look bad like Rogers or Nelson. If Roders had KO’d Barnett, who would they have fight Fedor next?

    This is of course assuming that Fedor gets past Arlovski and is actually on the next Affliction show himself, as we all know Affliction without Fedor doesn’t sell…

  28. ilostmydog says:

    He ducked him because they offered him the fight at Shockwave ’06, after a full year of Barnett calling Fedor out, and he declined the offer. What is so hard to understand about that?

  29. 45 Huddle says:

    Right or wrong, I have always gotten the impression that Josh Barnett fights just enough to support his true love, which is Pro Wrestling.

    This fight is horrible. I think my borderline purchase of Affliction just became a no-purchase.

  30. cyph says:

    He ducked him because they offered him the fight at Shockwave ‘06, after a full year of Barnett calling Fedor out, and he declined the offer. What is so hard to understand about that?

    Isn’t that convenient? Hell, I believe Barnett was offered the fight with Fedor before Arlovski but he declined it. I wonder why? If you beat the best, you’d be the best. Barnett likes his top ten ranking without breaking a sweat.

    Barnett is a clear top-10 HW. Anyone who says otherwise, show me your top 10 and prove it!

    If Barnett believes he’s top ten, he needs to prove it! Beating scrubs and avoiding top competition only works for him for so long before people wise up. If Mirko followed in Barnett’s playbook, he’d still be a top 5 fighter.

  31. Preach says:

    “He has looked good in his last 7 fights, and I highly doubt that any of you internet warriors/Zac Arnold have even bothered watching them before talking shit.”

    I’ve been at 5 of those 7 events, and yeah, i think that Yvel vs Barnett is one of the crappiest ideas Affliction had up to date. He has absolutely no business being featured in any prominent stage of MMA at this time…

  32. The Gaijin says:

    I mean hey, Brock Lesnar is being lined up to defend the belt against Kongo in 2009 if he beats Nog/Mir. There’s justification for a top 5 ranking right there!

  33. Paul Horton says:

    Hey Zach, it’s sad to see that you are allowing Zuffa trolls on your site now too. The forums (sherdog, UG) are bad enough as it is.

    I enjoy your site thoroughly. Please don’t let this kind of garbage taint it. THanks.

  34. The Gaijin says:

    No offense cyph, but weren’t you the same guy tee-tolling on about how Fedor “…beats scrubs and avoids top competition…”.

    Just because a fighter fought in Japan and wasn’t fighting “in the cage” against the Kongos and Frank Mir’s of the world, you don’t have to hate on him.

    Barnett and Fedor both showed QED in their fights with Nog that they are the real deal and Nog’s been more than “proving” he was not shrinking violet.

    Just because someone fought in PRIDE doesn’t mean you need to automatically consider them to be trumped up and avoiding competition, which you inherently prone to doing – and imo you’re a far more intelligent person than that.

  35. The Gaijin says:

    Proofchecking is good.

  36. Jeff says:

    “I mean hey, Brock Lesnar is being lined up to defend the belt against Kongo in 2009 if he beats Nog/Mir. There’s justification for a top 5 ranking right there!”

    Kongo beat Mirko, which is something Josh couldn’t do in 3 fights.

  37. Fred says:

    What’s puzzling is that any fans would expect more of Affliction than the likes of a Barnett/Yvel fight. Affliction is on its last legs! Everyone knows that Trump pulled his money and resources out of the promotion. They are literally struggling just to put ON a card. Did anyone really think that Affliction would be able to stack a card like they did their first one?

    It’s downhill from here, and we’ll be lucky if Affliction’s next show isn’t their last. My suggestion is that fans stop complaining and enjoy the one good fight (Fedor/Arlovski) which is likely to be on the card. The economy is in a rough patch right now, and Affliction greatly overextended itself with that expensive, stacked premiere card (which didn’t prove to be profitable).

    No one who knows this sport should be expecting any more quality cards from Affliction. You’ll have to make do with what ya get!

  38. Zack says:

    “Kongo beat Mirko, which is something Josh couldn’t do in 3 fights.”

    Good point…Barnett should’ve gone for more groin shots!!

  39. Ultimo Santa says:

    “Kongo beat Mirko, which is something Josh couldn’t do in 3 fights.”

    CroCop was a different fighter then.

    He was stronger, faster, more motivated, and he hadn’t been brutally KOed by Gabriel Gonzaga in his previous outing.

    Also, yeah…the multiple shots to the nuts.

  40. cyph says:

    No offense cyph, but weren’t you the same guy tee-tolling on about how Fedor “…beats scrubs and avoids top competition…”.

    I was down on Fedor for not fighting top competition. When he did, he proved to me that he’s the best. I’m consistent here. I don’t disparage fighters because I dislike them. I change my tune when they prove to me otherwise.

    I was a big CroCop fan as well. I thought he would demolish Couture. Well, I’m down on here because he’s proven that he’s no good.

    I don’t hug anyone’s nuts. I give credit where credit is due.

  41. The Gaijin says:

    Just clarifying I’m not calling you a nuthugger, or at least didn’t make it appear to sound like I was…maybe I should have said more accurately said, I wish you weren’t so automatically skeptical of fighters…

  42. The Gaijin says:

    Cro Cop also spent a good deal of time pounding on LHW’s and guys like Dos Caras. And lost to Nog, Hunt and Fedor when the chips were down.

  43. The Gaijin says:

    “Kongo beat Mirko, which is something Josh couldn’t do in 3 fights.”

    A. He barely did after kneeing him in the nuts and leaning against him in the cage all fight.

    B. Some fighters are just kryptonite for other fighters. That being said, fight #1 was a total fluke injury, fight #2 was pretty much the Kongo-Cro Cop fight without the flagrant groin shots and fight #3 was an actual conclusive ending, albeit Barnett has a 3 round war with Nog vs. 6 min KO for Mirk and iirc correctly it ended b/c of a fingerpoke to the eye that set up the pounding.

  44. cyph says:

    I’m skeptical of fighters like Barnett when they have a history of avoiding big fights. We wouldn’t even have this discussion if he’d take the Fedor fight rather than rejecting it only to take the fight against Yvel.

    This is actually the first time I’ve spoken out against Barnett. He needs to stop avoiding big fights. How many big fights have he been rumored to be in only to have it changed at the last minute? Compare him to Lesnar who constantly ask to fight the best.

  45. […] but I suppose they just didn’t work out for whatever reason. If you really hate this fight, check out Zach Arnold’s thoughts on it. He hates it […]

  46. cyph says:

    Don’t bring up CroCop anymore. I’m pretty much convinced that CC was a protected fighter during the Pride era. Most of his fights never go to the ground for some bizarre reason. CroCop on the ground is like Mark Hunt: a fish out of water.

    I’m also highly suspect of fighters retaining their rankings from the Pride era. There are so much shadiness involved there that we don’t know what is real and what is not. Fighters need to be ranked based on their fights after the Pride era.

  47. The Gaijin says:

    I was just about to say, while I definitely consider Barnett to be “as good as advertised”, I have no problem admitting he hasn’t fought good enough competition in recent memory.

    And this is true re: Fedor, when people were saying that Fedor wasn’t fighting top flight guys – I was the first to point out that everyone was actually trying to avoid him – Exhibit “A”: Barnett at Shockwave ’06.

  48. The Gaijin says:

    Hey man, I’m not bringing up Cro Cop as an example of where people are wrong…Cro Cop was completely exposed as one of the guys who looked spectacular in demolishing the smaller fighters and sacrificial lambs, but couldn’t beat people when it mattered.

    He’s a stark contrast to someone like W. Silva, who while he did get his fair share of cans to crush, beat the top level guys just as equally when he fought them.

  49. Ivan Trembow says:

    Signing Gilbert Yvel is a pathetic move, and hopefully the California State Athletic Commission will refuse to license him because of his prior attack on a referee.

  50. The Gaijin says:

    Also, you have to remember that the ring was very striker friendly, along with PRIDE-rules and reffing. And Mirko did for a time have some insane TD defence – but again, who did he really show it against? Coleman, Caras, Minowa, Nog, Aleks, Magmodev, Waterman, Oyama, Barnett…?

    Of all those guys the only three that even warrant mentioning: Coleman is old as hell with no stand-up, Waterman has no stand-up and is mediocre at best anyways and Nog is a bjj wiz with minimal td ability.

    So…how *awesome* was that TD really?

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