Josh Barnett (the pro wrestler) added to 'Genki Desu Ka!!' fight card for Dec. 31 in Japan

by Jesse Holland on Dec 20, 2011 2:14 PM EST in DREAM / K-1 News & Results

Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix semifinalist Josh Barnett has been added to the FieLDS 'Genki Desu Ka!!' fight card for Dec. 31, 2011, at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

But he won't be fighting.

Instead, "The Warmaster" will be facing off against Hideki Suzuki in a pro wrestling bout under the Inoki Genome Federation (IGF) banner as part of the New Year's Eve extravaganza that will include Fedor Emelianenko vs. Satoshi Ishii and the DREAM bantamweight grand prix finals, among others.

Barnett is a fixture in the Japanese pro wrestling scene, also competing for New Japan and battling other mixed martial arts' notables like Tank Abbott, Tim Sylvia, Bobby Lashley and Bob Sapp.

Here's what else to expect from the Genki Desu Ka!! supershow:

DREAM Bantamweight Grand Prix:

135 lbs.: Bibiano Fernandes vs. Rodolfo Marques
135 lbs.: Masakazu Imanari vs. Antonio Banuelos
135 lbs.: Winner of Fernandes-Marques vs. Winner of Imanari-Banuelos

Main Card:

265 lbs.: Fedor Emelianenko vs. Satoshi Ishii
155 lbs.: Shinya Aoki vs. Satoru Kitaoka
170 lbs.: Hayato Sakurai vs. Ryo Chonan
145 lbs.: Hiroyuki Takaya vs. Takeshi Inoue
155 lbs.: Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Kazuyuki Miyata
115 lbs.: Megumi Fujii vs. Karla Benitez

Mixed Rules Bout:

155 lbs.: Yuichiro Nagashima vs. Katsunori Kikuno

Kickboxing Bouts:

140 lbs.: Yuta Kubo vs. Nils Widlund
140 lbs.: Masaaki Noiri vs. Kengo Sonoda

Pro Wrestling Bouts:

Kazushi Sakuraba and Katsuyori Shibata vs. Shinichi Suzukawa and Atsushi Sawada
Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Peter Aerts
Josh Barnett vs. Hideki Suzuki

Stay tuned to MMAmania.com for more updates to FieLDS presents 'Genki Desu Ka!!' as they become available.

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Comments

Peter Aerts the pro wrestler?!?

Really? I guess this is the fallout from FEGs financial woes.

by renegadebjj on Dec 20, 2011 2:32 PM EST reply actions

That

made me cry

"It’s Mark Pavelich calling from the Maximum Fighting Championship,

I’ve just received notice that Drew Fickett or you, I don’t care which one of you fuckers did it, has signed a contract to fight in Strikeforce this fucking weekend. I’m going to get on a fucking plane soon and go where you’re at and choke you the fuck out. I’m telling you right now, I’ve had enough of your fucking shit. First of all, I’ve sent you the fucking pictures and secondly, I placed Drew Fickett in a fight fucking months ago and five weeks prior to my main event of my fucking fight card. You’re going to give me a fucking call tomorrow or I swear I’ll get on a fucking plane and go right where you’re at right now. You’re pissing me off, I’ve been nothing but professional to you motherfuckers and you’re doing this kind of bullshit, alright? Call me back, I’m fucking pissed."

by Swedish Chef smerdy herdy verdy on Dec 20, 2011 3:00 PM EST up reply actions

These guys get paid pretty good and have been doing this for years

Over their though the fans don’t give the fighters a bad name for fake wrestling compared to here

I don't try to intimidate anybody before a fight. That's nonsense. I intimidate people by hitting them.

by Puck Head on Dec 20, 2011 3:00 PM EST up reply actions

I'm not sure its about that

Japanese fans have historically been very supportive of athletes in any domain, MMA/kickboxing/pro wrestling, but as far as getting paid I don’t know. In the past the lure of larger fight purses is what drew most fighters to Japanese promotions but with guys like Ray Sefo and Overeem claiming that FEG still owes them huge sums of money, I’m not sure if this is more of a job taken on necessity instead of for a challenge. Sefo claims that he’s owed $750K (I don’t know in what currency).

by renegadebjj on Dec 20, 2011 4:16 PM EST up reply actions