(For a guy who looks like the bully in a teen comedy, he’s actually quite cerebral.)

If you’re like me, you’re pretty sick of hearing from Freddie Roach about how great Andrei Arlovski’s boxing is and how poor Fedor’s is.  It’s enough to make you almost wish that Arlovski would come out in a traditional boxing stance and try to use only his stupendous hand skills to defeat the world’s number one heavyweight, all just so boxing guys like Roach could get a quick and easy lesson in why that doesn’t work in an actual fight.  

Enter Josh Barnett – MMA’s well-spoken gentleman – who calmly explains why we’d all be better off ignoring Roach:

"As far as his striking not being impressive, I guess Freddie Roach is going to eat crow. It’s not like what Freddie Roach is used to and what he would normally step into a boxing ring and see across the way. Fedor’s striking for MMA is very precise and it’s been very successful for him."

"The minute you push him he doesn’t go back he comes forward and he just immediately punches and tries to take you down. If he encounters trouible on the feet, he doesn’t try to stay and work his way out of that, he changes gears."

Thank you, Barnett.  Thank you for reminding us that there’s a reason Fedor is the most dominant heavyweight in MMA, and that reason is not that he has yet to face a Freddie Roach-trained fighter.  Not that Arlovski isn’t also a tough fighter with a real chance to win, but damn, does anyone really believe that boxing is Fedor’s kryptonite?  Be serious.