Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Says He'd Be Interested In WWE

Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Josh Barnett has his feet in a little bit of everything. He's a top-10 UFC Heavyweight, he does color commentary for NJPW on AXS, he's the Metamoris Heavyweight Champion, a coach, and an actor, but he still has pro wrestling aspirations.

Barnett has worked for the likes of New Japan Pro Wrestling and Inoki Genome Federation, without yet making his splash on the American wrestling scene. When I asked him recently about the prospect of working in WWE, he was open to doing so, with conditions.

"Sure! Working is working, and there's a lot of great guys in WWE that I'd love to put on a match with," Barnett said. "The thing is, wherever I go, I'm a wrestler. I'm not an entertainer or superstar or whatever. I'm a wrestler first, and I won't concede on that."

When I asked if he'd ever been contacted by WWE, ROH or TNA, Barnett joked that he didn't think they wanted anyone to upend their show. I asked if his strong-style was a contributing factor to not working as much in American pro wrestling, he leaned that direction.

"Probably. That's the roots of my training. If I'd have went out there and didn't represent strong style or shoot style, that'd be weird," Barnett said.

We'll have the first part of our exclusive interview with Josh Barnett next week.