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« | Home | »

Yoshida vs. Barnett booked for WVR debut show

By Zach Arnold | February 2, 2008

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Remember our report a few days ago talking about the possiblity of Hidehiko Yoshida vs. Josh Barnett happening at World Victory Road’s debut show on March 5th in Yoyogi?

Mark it down on your calendar. It’s officially booked. Josh is promising a nice suplex in his match against Yoshida.

Topics: Japan, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 31 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

31 Responses to “Yoshida vs. Barnett booked for WVR debut show”

  1. […] vs Hidehiko Yoshida instead.. Not that hyped bout this matchup..but at least he’s fighting. Yoshida vs. Barnett booked for WVR debut show __________________ YOU wa […]

  2. 45 Huddle says:

    Barnett’s first fight in 18 months, and we get this garbage….

  3. catch says:

    It’s not exactly Barnett/Fedor, but I’m glad to see him fighting at least. How much drawing power do you think this this fight has in Japan, Zach?

  4. ttt says:

    seriously, everybody rags on Fedor for not fighting top level competition. what about Barnett? this guy knows he can make big money rolling in japan.

    if barnett fedor never happens, it’ll probably be more barnett than fedor’s fault

  5. SamScaff says:

    You people forget that Barnett did this for years, before he signed with Pride.

    After his dismissal from UFC, I honestly never thought I’d see him fight MMA ever again. So this shouldnt be surprising.

    That being said, I’m also dissapointed. To my mind, Yoshida is not only an Olympic has-been, he’s an MMA never-was.

  6. The Gaijin says:

    I think it’s highly insulting and borderline ridiculous to refer to someone as an “Olympic has-been”.

    The man won an Olympic gold medal and is a several time World champion and deserves respect for those accomplishments, regardless of his success as an mma fighter.

  7. Sergio says:

    I agree with Gaijin.

    Being disappointed that an Olympic-level judoka only did moderately well at the highest level of MMA is one thing but calling him an “Olympic has-been” is disrespectful.

  8. Chuck says:

    I think this is an interesting fight.

    “Barnett’s first fight in 18 months, and we get this garbage…”

    Well, DUH! He hasn’t fough in a year and a half, of course he isn’t gonna go right into the top fighters. What did you expect? And Yoshida is no push-over, this should be a good fight.

    And I still find it hilarious that Barnett still promises to finish his opponents with suplexes, and he never does it! Let it alone already man!

  9. The Gaijin says:

    Well in Barnett’s defence I’m pretty sure he has actually been able to pull off a suplex or two in his matches, but to that extent I don’t think he’s finished anyone.
    It’s a work in progress, lol.

  10. ilostmydog says:

    I’m pretty sure he pulled off a few german suplexes against Yuki Kondo…but Yuki Kondo is also a MW.

  11. The Gaijin says:

    Pretty sure he might have caught Nakamura with one too?

    But Nakamura is a LHW and possibly able to make MW if he tried to cut hard enough.

  12. Myles Fichter says:

    Sherdog reports that this fight is to build up Yoshida for a fight against Roger Gracie in fall. How is Barnett destroying Yoshida going to build him up for the fight with Roger????

  13. Grape Knee High says:

    I think the more important question is: if they are paying Gomi 190k per fight, what the heck is Yoshida getting?

    WVR won’t be in business long enough for a Roger/Yoshida fight to even happen if the Gomi figure is true (and Yoshida is getting comparably more).

    Then again, I guess whatever the WVR guys are getting pales in comparison to the ridiculous $2 million Fedor is getting for the 20,000 PPV buys he’ll be able to command.

  14. Gabe says:

    Can I just vent? My beloved Pats lost, and now everyone in New England is gonna be an asshole tomorrow. Sorry to derail, but my Monday is gonna suck and I need a little love.

  15. Hawk says:

    There’s absolutely nothing wrong with this fight. Hidehiko Yoshida is a strong grappler who has a weakness to trying to put on exciting fights which means he stands up and trades when he shouldn’t. Josh Barrnett is exactly the same but with better overall skills.

    It’ll probably be a very fun, and exciting decision victory for Josh.

  16. rainrider says:

    MMA is so much popular in Japan and why no wrestlers with Olympic medals draw public attention is a pure mystery to me. Judo, Sumo, kickboxing have always been more popular than other martial arts in this country, but by now they’ve seen MMA long enough to know wrestling is the key to success in MMA fighting. It’s time(long past due) to summon the next Fujitas and Miyatas.

    Yoshida is a great Judo player and he is a very talented athlete with unbreakable will. But let’s be honest. Judo sucks. In MMA, they’re nothing until they start training 3 times a week at Pareastra or shootboxing gyms. Remember how Yoshida got taken down at ease by some of the strikers?

    Judo players do not have tools to finish fights. Wretlers know how to G&P, Boxers know how to knock the guy out, BJJ players know how to submit opponents, but Judo cannot win a MMA fight without split decision. Think back Yoshida’s all no-gi MMA bouts. He lost almost all of them!!

    I hope Sengoku will be an successful event. But when they have a Judo guy instead of MMA world ranker in the main event, what should I say about their quality as an orgainizer. Pretty poor.

  17. ColumbiaLou says:

    Judo vs. Catch Wrestling. I hope the intro video for Barnett shows Gotch, Fujiwara and Funaki. Josh should also mention the catch wrestling vs judo matches in the 1920s(or whenever those matches took place). And Josh should keep it quiet that he trained in judo as a teenager, before his catch wrestling training. It will only mess up the theme of the match.

    Rainrider- I am so glad wrestlers from Japan have not blanketed their way to success like American wrestlers have done. Japanese MMA has been so much more exciting without lay and pray/rabbit punches wrestlers. Keep those yellow cards ready Japanese MMA companies!!

  18. samscaff says:

    Ohhh, I’m so sorry I offended you people by calling Yoshida an Olympic has-been.

    Too bad. Thats what he is. He won a gold medal in 1992. Thats 16 years ago!

    If a gold medalist from the 1922 Olympics wanted to get back in to sports, could I call them an Olympic has-been?

  19. cyphron says:

    Is this the same Yoshida that was TKOed by James Thompson of all people?

    Lets call a duck a duck here. Yoshida’s no good anymore, and this is a horrible match up.

    I don’t see what’s so bad about Samscaff calling him a has-been. If he’s not a current Olympic-caliber Olympian, then he obviously is a has-been. Pride fans are so sensitive!

  20. The Gaijin says:

    Your idiocy has no bounds cyphron.

    No one’s being “PRIDE fan” by saying it’s insulting to call him an Olympic “has been”. Go call any former American hero medallist a “has been” in any way, shape or form and see what how people react.

    You’re a ‘tard that always complains about, “PRIDE fans this, PRIDE fans that” but conveniently you’re the first person to make it a PRIDE/UFC issue.

  21. cyphron says:

    has-been /?hæz?b?n/
    –noun
    a person or thing that is no longer effective, successful, popular, etc.

    That’s the definition of Yoshida as a former Olympian. Why is that insulting?

  22. The Gaijin says:

    By your definition anyone that’s won an Olympic medal and isn’t currently vying for medals in present or future Olympics is a “has-been”.

    Geez I can think of a few people that might be insulted if they knew their “legacy” as an Olympic champion actually boiled down to them being a “has-been”.

  23. samscaff says:

    I am a Pride fan. A huge one in fact. And I completely stand by what I said.

    If Yoshida won his gold medal and went along with his life, of course I wouldnt call him a has-been. But the fact is he came back to the sporting world on his Olympic laurels and tried his hand at MMA. Therefore he is subject to criticism, as is any professional athelete.

    The biggest win of his MMA career was against Don Frye, and that was still 6 years ago. Plus, Yoshida gets injured in every single one of his MMA fights. EVERY ONE. Now if thats not a sign of being old and a has-been, then nothing is.

    Plus, newsflash, he’s not a legit heavyweight. This is a crap matchup. Guaranteed domination. Anyone who cant see that is blind.

  24. The Gaijin says:

    I’m in no way defending the competitiveness of this match-up nor his credentials as an mma fighter. I just thought it was pretty much unnecessary to be referring to a guy as an “Olympic has-been”. He’s a mediocre MMA fighter who had promising potential at the beginning of his career but was fed to every foreign monster available in an attempt to recreate the whole “Saku” effect.

    All I’m saying is I’m pretty sure if you started calling any inspirational American Olympic hero an “Olympic has-been” you’d probably get a pretty big reaction.

  25. Sergio says:

    I guess that makes Karelin a has-been, yeah?

    I mean,he hasn’t won a gold medal since ’96… OMG, OVER A DECADE AGO!

    What a wash-out. And he lost to Gardner in 2000, lol, Karelin sucks.

  26. D. Capitated says:

    If Alexander Karelin had been attempting to compete the last 8 years, that would probably be a legitimate criticism by now.

  27. Sergio says:

    Yoshida is competing in a sport that he had little to no experience in. And at the sport’s highest level.

  28. D. Capitated says:

    Yoshida has been fighting at the “highest level” for the last few years not because he’s actually capable of doing so, but because he’s a drawing name due to his judo past. He hasn’t won a fight in almost 2 years. He lost to James Thompson. His “high level” wins in the last 3 were against a washed up noname boxer with a whopping 0-1 record in MMA, Tank Abbott, and a pro wrestler who’s MMA wins were all thrown fights.

  29. rainrider says:

    > Rainrider- I am so glad wrestlers from Japan have not blanketed their way to success like American wrestlers have done. Japanese MMA has been so much more exciting without lay and pray/rabbit punches wrestlers. Keep those yellow cards ready Japanese MMA companies!!

    Let me keep it simple. The four most exciting Japanese MMA fighters are the follows: Sakuraba, Gomi, Sudo, and Yamamoto. The common factor is that they have free style wrestling background. Then the four most boring MMA stars from Japan are Kosaka, Takimoto, Yoshida, and Matsui. The common factor is obviously that they’re Judo players. Aoki, Uematsu and Shoji are rahter BJJ fighter/boxer than conventional Judokas.

  30. The Gaijin says:

    “Yoshida has been fighting at the “highest level” for the last few years not because he’s actually capable of doing so, but because he’s a drawing name due to his judo past.”

    See Lesnar, Brock. NCAA and WWE “has-been”.

  31. Ultimo_Santa says:

    I find it funny when a bunch of “never was and never will bes” are online calling professional athletes “has-beens”.

    I picture a fat slob covered in chips, drinking a beer in his la-z-boy recliner with a laptop on his knees, watching a fuzzy YouTube video of Barnett vs. Yoshida and yelling “See? You’re a has-been! A pathetic main-event fighter who only makes 10x more than I do a year! You suck!”

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