Last Tuesday on myspace, I found out Josh Barnett was going to teach at Erik Paulson’s(Barnett’s main trainer) school on Wednesday. Since Erik Paulson’s school is about 25 minutes from where I live, I decided to check it out.
Most MMA North American fans has probably never heard of Josh Barnett since he mostly fights in Japan. So let me tell you a little bit about Barnett. He is one of the top 5 MMA heavyweights in the world. He was a former UFC Heavyweight champ beating Randy “The Natural” Couture. After not getting along with the UFC president, Dana White. He pro wrestled in Japan and became a 2 time champ in another MMA event, Pancrase. In the past 2 years, he was fighting in Pride FC. His achievements in Pride include beating Antonio Nogueira, Mark Hunt and runner up to last year’s Pride Open Weight Tournament.
His class started at 7 p.m., so I left around 6:15. I was hoping he would sign my action figure and program so I brought it with me. As usual I got lost and got there around 7:05. I was surprised how big the school was. It looked like a huge garage but renovated so they could place the mats and the punching bags. So I sat down and observed the class. Erik introduced himself and I told him I wanted to check out Barnett’s class. He said stay as long as you want.
I couldn’t really hear what Barnett was saying to the class since the school was so big. But from what I gather, he said that catch wrestling is more agrressive than BJJ in that you always control your position instead of being passive. The class was warming up for about 30 minutes and then they were doing takedown drills. I was impressed how fast and smooth Barnett moved for a big guy.
On the next drill, he was showing how to get someone’s back and the positions after passing the guard. Let’s just say there was at least 3 from passing the guard to getting a side mount. I want to mention that when he was teaching, he had the music playing. What music was the class listening to? Contra themes in metal rock. That’s right, the old NES game, Contra. That was awesome and put a smile to my face.
The last drill he showed was from the side mount. He showed the americana (submitted Aleksander Emelianenko with it) transition into a straight armbar which transitioned into a double wrist lock(made Mark Hunt tap).
After the class, I introduced myself to Barnett and told him I was a big fan of his. I talked to him about the last moves he showed and he said they are fairly basic. But once you perfect the move, you can get top fighters with it. I asked him if he could sign my stuff and he said “of course”. I’ll probably come back next Wednesday to try out his class. Erik Paulson’s school gives anybody 1 free class to try out his school. I’m taking him up on the offer. Check out the pics below:
Hao Imported figured from Japan signed.
Closer look of the signature
Pride FC program with the figure.
Me with Barnett
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