Sergei Kharitonov vs Josh Barnett

This is a really interesting matchup. The accordion-playing Sergei Kharitonov (right) is a large, devastating striker with a base of combat Sambo, the Russian martial art. Josh Barnett is no longer calling himself the “Baby-faced Assassin” because he is old and bearded, so now he has dubbed himself “War Master” or something like that. People haven’t really heard of Kharitonov because he has fought almost exclusively in Japan, but he has wins against Alistair Overeem (before he was ginormous), Werdum and Semmy Schilt, who was a great kickboxer back in the day.

Barnett used to be really good back when he was on roids but he’s been fighting nothing but chumps in recent years and his bitchtits are pretty sloppy. Barnett’s whole game is top control. If he can get his thunder thighs on top of Sergei the fight will be over, but he’s had trouble with strikers in the past like Cro Cop for example and Kharitonov is a much bigger boy. Round-by-round scoring after the jump:

Round 1-The large men are boxing and Sergei seems to be getting the better of it. Sergei is teeing off. I can’t believe Barnett is still on his feet. Barnett gets the takedown and it’s a beauty. He managed to fall so that he was already in the full mount. Ruh Roh.

Four minutes to go. Barnett is really tough from this position, highly unlikely Sergei is getting out. Barnett dropping some elbows. Sergei is trying to punch from the bottom, which is fucking stupid. He should really be trying to sweep or something. Kharitonov is trying to roll over and he’s about to get choked out. Jesus. Sergei has no idea what to do on the ground.

Barnett is putting some elbows on the side of Sergei’s head while he turtles and just tries to make it to the next round. Barnett still has a minute to rain down hammerfists. Kharitonov turns back around and Barnett ends it with an arm triangle. That seemed easy, but Barnett weathered some early shots to get that takedown.

Cormier versus Barnett in the tournament finals. Should be a pretty good fight. Hope they can put together a decent undercard.