Antonio Pezão mocks Josh Barnett's recent statements: 'It made me laugh'

Pezão (photo) hopes to return to the UFC in September. Photo: Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/

Antonio Pezão continued the war of words against fellow UFC heavyweight Josh Barnett. After being challenged by the Brazilian, the North American despised his rival, saying that if he accepted the fight, would be helping to promote the name of Pezão.

In an interview with the Combate channel website, the Brazilian fighter was dismissive of Barnett's response. “It's very funny of him. It even made me laugh when he said he wasn't going to make a name for me, that he had no reason to fight me. The guy is coming off a loss to a guy I knocked out [Travis Browne], I'm number four in the division, while he's fifth, and he says he doesn't want to fight me so he doesn't give me a name? He's funny. I laughed,” he commented.

Pezão stated that the choice of fights should come from the UFC, and not the athletes. “We are UFC employees and we have to fight whoever the UFC tells us to. If they say he's going to have to fight [me], then he has to fight. I didn't want to fight [Mark] Hunt, I even asked not to face him, I had already trained with him, he's my friend, but I'm an employee and I fought. I put up a good fight and we remained friends. This talk that he doesn't want to, it's not up to him to decide. If the UFC decides, we will fight,” he continued.

The Brazilian is already making plans to perform at the next event in his home country, in Brasília, on September 13th. “The 13th is in Brasília, my birthday is the 14th, it would be wonderful to fight in my country, together with my fans, on the eve of my birthday. But I'm an employee, I have to fight whoever they want. I'm already preparing and increasing my training pace. With this situation with Barnett, I'm going to train as if I were going to fight yesterday. It would be a very tough fight, especially because he is complete, he does well on the feet, he has good wrestling, he is a finisher, he deserves respect. But I like that, a tough fight, which motivates me more. I'm going to knock him out for sure”, concluded Pezão.