Heavyweight rising star Chris Barnett has big ambitions

By Timothy Gilbert

There aren’t many fighters quite like Chris Barnett. From his goofy, happy-go-lucky personality, to ever so elegant post-fight celebrations, Barnett is quickly making a name for himself as one of the most unique heavyweight fighters in the country.

He is currently known as “Beast Boy,” presumably due to his size and fierceness in the cage. He may not, however, be keeping that name for long.

“Beast Boy is cool, like its me, but it’s not me,” Barnett told Full Contact Fighter. “If I could get a name that’s going to almost embarrass you when you get beat by me.  Say for instance ‘Teddy Bear Barnett.”

He may be a teddy bear outside the ring but his mentality and production within the cage speaks for itself. At 9-1 with seven knockouts and riding a four fight win streak, Barnett takes his work within the cage very seriously, a mentality that he has inherited from the intensity of his family.

Barnett comes from a long line of combat athletes. His brother, a Taekwondo AAU team captain, narrowly missed qualifying for the Olympics and his family owns their own Taekwondo studio in Athens, Georgia.

“It’s always kind of like a competition between me and him growing up especially with Taekwondo. It started out with him being really, really, really good and I tried to catch up,” he said.

“And that’s when I jumped into wrestling because I was like you know what I’m not going to catch you in Taekwondo but you can’t do what I’m doing over here in this wrestling ring.”

In his last start on May 9, Barnett flattened Richard White in Pensacola, Fla.

After a youth filled with combat sports and a brother who always set an example of success at the highest level, Barnett found his way into MMA unconventionally while away at college.

“There was an MMA tryout that they had. I won that. It started off as kind of like a goof to just like prove a point to a couple of friends,” he said. “Within about two months of me winning that tryout I had my first pro fight against Jonathan Ivy and I impressed a lot of people with that.”

He began his career with a bang, going 7-1 within the first two years of turning pro.

“At the time I was fighting literally every three months, four months and that was it. It wasn’t a job to me. I love to entertain. I love to fight,” he said.

Barnett’s love for combat drove him to further hone his skills, working on his abilities with some of the best fighters in the world.

“Anybody that needed me for a camp, I was there. I was down in Boca Raton for a while with Alistair, Rashad helping all of them get ready for their fights. I bounced back up here to Georgia helping guys like Scott Barrett, Brian Bowles, stuff like that,” he said

“My fighting style is don’t blink. You don’t know what’s going to happen, whether I’m going to throw a crazy kick, or a big overhand right or some type of huge takedown,” he said. “I really don’t like watching heavyweights fight. I watch the smaller guys, and in my mind I’m not the weight that I am. I’m their size and if they can do it, than I can do it.”

He understands that MMA is about making a name for yourself and drawing fans, a difficult task for many heavyweights who are often outshined by the quicker, flashier lighter divisions.

“My whole mentality comes from the crowd reaction. So if the crowd’s pumped up I have to give them more,” he said.

Breakdancing, attempting flips and trying spins is not something you see too often out of a fighter who is listed as 265 pounds, especially after they just fought for 15 minutes, but Barnett knows that, essentially, it comes down to putting on a good show.

Barnett's eccentric post-fight celebrations that include breakdancing are just a routine part of his act

“If they would allow me to stay out there for a full two hours, I would do something for the full two hours. It would be literally the Chris Barnett show.”

He is in the process of scheduling his next fight for June 28, hoping to extend his win streak to five and take one more step towards achieving the success that has always been expected from him.

“If you look in the Barnett lineage, somebody’s always done something and the next generation has always come along and topped that so I feel that it’s me and my brothers turn,” he said.

After June, he has his sights set on fighting for the budding Inoki Genome Federation (IGF), the Japan-based hybrid pro wrestling and MMA event series owned by wrestling legend Antonio Inoki.  IGF recently made headlines for its planned pro wrestling event in North Korea and has a track record of delivering star-studded MMA and wrestling bouts annually on New Year’s Eve.

“I’ve always wanted to fight in Japan,” said Barnett.  “Japan is the home of martial arts and Inoki is an international icon.  Just look at all of the superstars MMA that have come out of Japan.  I want to be one of those guys, and it would be an honor to fight for someone like Inoki.”

Barnett is always looking to up the ante in the cage and doesn’t like to maintain any kind of status quo before, during or after the fight.

“I’m never going to be satisfied. Well, my family is my worst critic and I love it that they keep things completely 100.” An immense load of pressure, luckily he doesn’t let it get to his head. “If I could end a fight any way it would be like a jump, spinning 540, hook kick to the head,” he said. “I’ve been working on it too.”