Showing the video preview now, which will focus at least initially on Barnett. He’s easily the biggest American MMA star in Japan and was a big star based on his New Japan Pro Wrestling career alone. Barnett gives a great “subtle heel” interview, but he (rightfully) puts over his opponent at Sengoku 1–Hidehiko Yoshida– bigtime. They’re showing all the legends of puroresu now and Barnett all of sudden gets humble when he talks about where he compares to Antonio Inoki, Karl Gotch, Billy Robinson, etc. They’re showing Jeff Monson now–Abu Dhabi, UFC against Sylvia, the final PRIDE show against Kazuyuki Fujita. Back to more Barnett–I was wondering how they were going to explain Jeff Monson to the Japanese crowd and the basically didn’t bother. Shame since he’s one of the more interesting characters in the sport. Monson will come out first I’m sure since Barnett is such a huge star in Japan. I’m sure Monson doesn’t care about all of that since he’s just a guy who likes to fight. Jeff comes to the ring to Rage Against the Machine performing “The Ghost of Tom Jode” , the political significance of which may be lost on the Japanese fans. As I mentioned at the outset, the deciding factor may be Barnett’s huge size advantage. Here comes Barnett, and its a great contrast in ring entrance as JB comes out to his traditional entrance song–the theme song to the anime “Fist of the North Star”. Barnett being a show off tonight and one of his entourage is holding his old UFC heavyweight title and another belt which I’m guessing is his King of Pancrase title. Not sure what else it would be–despite his association with New Japan he’s never held the promotions top belt the IWGP title–the Japanese announcer mentions the UFC heavyweight title and the King of Pancrase so I’m assuming thats what the belts were. Barnett towers over Monson, and its obvious they’re friends as they all but hug in the prefight.

ROUND 1:

Fighters circle each other looking to get off the first punch–horrible place for Monson to be since Barnett has such a longer reach. Barnett with a couple of low kicks. Monson lunges to try and land a punch and ends up off balance as JB steps out of the way. Nice combination followed by a low kick. My picture is freezing again, which hopefully will be a momentary thing. A viewer just IM’d and asked if I thought it a possibility that Barnett and Monson would “work” this match–meaning would it be more like a “strong style” wrestling match. Sure doesn’t look like it so far, but Barnett is great at working a strong style match. Monson having trouble with Barnett’s size, but when he gets inside he’s able to match up strength for strength pretty well. Knee to the gut my Monson. Kind of funny since the lock up position they were in just a minute ago was a classic position for wrestlers to “call spots”. Monson lands a couple of good punches near the end of the round and Barnett glares at his friend and rubs his face. Barnett’s cutman is Jacob “Stitch” Duran who’s considered by many the best in the business–boxing or MMA, take your pick. He looks at Barnett’s face, which is showing some swelling but no cuts apparent. Tough round to call–Barnett until the last 30 seconds though Monson may have landed the best punches of the fight.

ROUND 2:

Brief standup exchange and Barnett catches Monson to the chest with a spinning back kick. Monson, who’s basically a 5′9″ human bulldozer is able to match strength well with Barnett. Monson with a takedown and Barnett blocks an arm bar attempt. Monson in Barnett’s guard now trying to pass. Monson trying for side control, Barnett rolls over on his side to block. Looks like Monson is trying to set up a choke from side control. They’re real close to the ropes and it might get broken up. Monson gives up the choke to pop Barnett in the head. Barnett powers out and in one motion catches Monson with a punch and goes for a belly to belly suplex which Monson partially blocks. The result is Barnett in Monson’s guard trying to pass. Monson instead rolls over and now it looks like Barnett is trying for a choke. He pops Monson in the head with a nasty knee strike. One minute left in the round now and this is another tough one to score so far–Monson won the first half, but its been Barnett ever since then. Knee to the gut by Barnett, but Monson is up. Another knee and another by Barnett, which is his best weapon so far. Takedown by Barnett at the end of the round may have won it for him. Its funny how obviously these guys are friends–at the end of the round after Barnett lets Monson up he gives him a playful butt to his bald noggin. Good competitive fight so far–I’m going to give this round to Barnett. He may or may not have won the first one, but Monson is definitely still in the fight.

ROUND 3:

Monson is one of those guys who’s face swells up easily, but its looking pretty banged up so far. Monson bulls Barnett to the ropes and they grapple for control, Barnett throwing a couple of knees into Monson’s midsection. Monson grabs a leg and holds on like the proverbial pit bull on a pork chop. He gets Barnett down, but JB transitions smoothly into top mount. He tries for a kneebar but Monson escapes. More knees to Monson’s gut–due to the size disparity when Monson tries to work the takedown his stomach is just about resting on Barnett’s knees. Two knees to the head by Barnett rock Monson, Barnett now on top trying to pass guard. Monson’s a tough customer and he appears to have recovered from a couple of knee strikes that would have laid out most fighters. Barnett really starting to use his height and lanky frame for leverage and has dominated the round so far. Barnett had Monson’s back for a moment and when Monson tried to roll out he caught a knee to the side of the head. Monson smiles about something Barnett says to him in the clinch, which is funny to see as he’s simultaneously catching a hellacious beating from his friend. As I’ve often said, fighters are just wired differently. Barnett with a heel hook as the round winds down but my guess is that he’s not going to break his friend’s ankle to win a fight. I’m calling it Josh Barnett by unanimous decision, though Monson gave a good account of himself in against a man I consider to be the best heavyweight in the world. Hugs all around afterward….

JOSH BARNETT WINS BY UNANIMOUS DECISION

The fighters hug after the match. Monson is such a stud its not even funny–if he had a few more inches of height he’d be unbeatable. In any case, he definitely has nothing to be ashamed of tonight. Monson’s face is swollen, not as bad as against Tim Sylvia but still pretty bad. Now Barnett’s addressing the crowd and he’s very proficient in his Japanese–probably all learned from anime and manga. He’s talking in English now–he’s giving shoutouts to some sick kid now dedicating the fight to him which is cool. He says something funny in Japanese that cracks up the assembled fans. He does a lame dance and poses in the ring wearing what I’m assuming is his King of Pancrase belt. Here’s a trivia answer for you–Josh Barnett is one of only 3 men to hold a UFC championship and a King of Pancrase title. The other two in a moment…Barnett brings Monson back in the ring to get him over with the Japanese fans. The way Monson fights he’s not exactly a tough sale. They’re bringing the rest of the fighters in the card back into the ring in one of those uniquely Japanese touches of pagentry. KISS Nakao is talking now. My guess is that its something like–thanks for coming to Sengoku 2. Not sure what is going on now–not sure exactly what they’re saying but Ryo Kawamura and Kevin Randleman take the mic. Kawamura gives Randleman a big hug and seems to be praising him for his general toughness–if you saw the post surgery scar on his chest in the prefight video you’d no doubt agree. Not Randleman’s best effort but since he’s had so many health problems I give him major props for just making it back. Barnett is apparently trying to work up some ‘Sengoku’ cheer or chant with the crowd. Jeff Monson looks on and appears unamused, perhaps speculating that his friend is becoming a pawn of the power elites. Big downpour of streamers and confetti pour down–a big yellow streamer lands right on top of Monson’s bald noggin looking just like a bow on a Xmas gift which is a pretty funny image.

In any case, thanks for joining us for the only English language play by play of Sengoku 2. While the other MMA sites are sleeping, we’re bringing you the best live coverage of the sport no matter where on the globe it happens. Our next live play by play will be next Saturday night with UFC 84 headlined by a lightheavyweight title matchup between Sean Sherk and BJ Penn. After that we’ll be back with Elite XC’s CBS debut on 5/31, the WEC card from Sacramento headlined by Jens Pulver vs. Urijah Faber. On June 6th we’ll have UFC 85 from London and we’ll be back in Japan on June 15thn with DREAM.4 live from Yokohama. Look for an updated schedule of live events on our website early next week.

Thanks for joining us for our English language exclusive live play by play of Sengoku 2 and we hope to see you next Saturday night from Las Vegas…