From MMA Weekly (archived):
The announcement was made earlier this week that former UFC champion and Pride stand-out Josh Barnett had signed a multi-fight contract with Strikeforce, and would jump right in the middle of a stacked heavyweight division. With several fight companies vying for his services all over the world, Barnett said the deal with Strikeforce just made sense, and now he’s ready to get to work.
Barnett has fought twice already in 2010, with a win in Dream as well as a victory while competing in Australia. When Strikeforce came along with a deal, Barnett admits it didn’t get done quickly, but ultimately, when the details were hammered out, he was happy with his decision.
“I spoke with several other companies prior to this, and what kind of visibility they were able to offer, and what they could offer in terms of opponents, and just keeping me active, my ability to do work outside of fighting, or even just fighting outside of that company, or professional wrestling work, or if I wanted to do any TV or movie work,” Barnett said about why he signed with Strikeforce.
“When it comes down to it, the thing that matters most to me is being able to fight. I just want to make sure I can get out there and crack as many heads as possible.”
Barnett is currently only under a fight contract to Strikeforce. He cleared up an earlier rumor from 2010 that he was signed to a long-term deal with Dream as well.
“First off, I’d like to say that I’m not signed with Dream, that was just a single fight,” Barnett stated. “It’s not as if I harbor any ill will towards Dream at all, and given the right circumstances I have absolutely no problem fighting for them, but at the same time I didn’t want to limit myself to anybody at any one point until I was sure I was at some place that would have terms that were agreeable to me, or if it was just monetarily worth my while.
“It took a while before getting to a point like that with Strikeforce, but we came to terms and worked it all out.”
“I’d love to fight on CBS. Punch somebody so hard that their eyeballs pop out of their head.” – Josh Barnett
The rest of the article is a good read (next page), with some typically provocative quotes from Barnett. The article intimates Barnett should be able to fight for Strikeforce before the end of the year.
