Josh Barnett has a well-deserved reputation as a brutal grappler with plenty of painful tricks up his sleeve, and here he shows us a version of side control that he loves using in no gi BJJ. Barnett took some time out of his busy schedule to sit down with the legendary Bernardo Faria to explain the technical intricacies of this side control variation, and the resulting video was then uploaded to his official YouTube channel. He’s not just talk either, as Josh Barnett actually used immense pressure from a side control variation to become the first man to submit Dean Lister in over sixteen years back at Metamoris 4.
Barnett has been absent from MMA competition for almost five years now and has only sparingly competed in grappling competitions, his most recent appearance being a 2018 submission loss to Gordon Ryan at Quintet. Despite that, he is still one of the most well-respected grapplers on the planet and as a former UFC Heavyweight world champion, he’s one of very few proponents of catch wrestling to have major combat sports success. Not just that, but Barnett was also a Pancrase Openweight world champion and a finalist of two separate major tournament events, the PRIDE 2006 Heavyweight grand prix and the Strikeforce Heavyweight grand prix.
At present, he’s under contract with Bellator and would have had his first fight by now if not for some issues that have prevented him from receiving medical clearance. He has had one fight for KSW recently however, a bare-knuckle boxing match with elbows allowed against KSW Heavyweight world champion Marcin Rozalski that he won by doctor stoppage in the second round. It’s these kind of credentials that mean that Josh Barnett has plenty of no gi grappling knowledge to share, but his specialty in brutal side control domination in particular is something that should be of interest to everyone.
