This Saturday, the UFC heads to the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi to host an outstanding pay-per-view card. The entire card is filled with fascinating matchups, ranked fighters, and rising stars. Although the main card is outstanding, there are plenty of excellent fights on the prelims. The most interesting of these matchups might just be Kennedy Nzechukwu vs. Chris Barnett, two opponents with an eight-inch difference in height and reach.

This fight takes place in the Heavyweight (265 lbs.) division.

Kennedy Nzechukwu has a professional record of 12-5-0 and has won three of his last five fights. He has UFC victories over Carlos Ulberg, Ion Cutelaba, and Devin Clark.

Chris Barnett has a professional record of 23-8-0 and has won three of his last five bouts. He has UFC victories over Gian Villante and Jake Collier.

Nzechukwu has big-time power in both hands and loves to hang in the pocket and throw heavy hooks. He’s a massive fighter at 6’5” and seemingly always has a significant reach advantage. Despite his length, he won’t typically spend much time at a distance, preferring to let his hands go inside the pocket. Nzechukwu prefers power to volume, constantly looking to close the distance and land a knockout blow. Training at Fortis MMA, he is exceptionally durable and has gotten himself out of some very tough spots, both on the feet and ground. With seven of his nine finishes coming in round 2 or later, he can be a bit of a slow starter but improves as the fight continues.

Barnett is a wild, exciting striker with a diverse kicking game and surprising explosiveness. He has solid footwork and head movement but is always willing to close the distance and brawl inside the pocket. Training at Hardcore Gym, he’ll constantly blitz forward to either unload quick, precise shots or extend long combinations, often dipping his head before unloading hooks and overhands. Barnett is a 3rd dan black belt in Taekwondo and can fire impressive, flashy kicks, even earning a spinning wheel kick KO in his second UFC appearance. Although he hasn’t attempted a takedown in his promotional tenure, he has a background in judo and wrestling and is a capable grappler. He has solid cardio and is comfortable in any kind of fight, whether it's a slower-paced, more technical bout or a wild brawl.

This is a fight you definitely won’t want to miss.

In a perfect world, Chris Barnett would be a superstar in the world of MMA. But we all know that the world isn’t perfect, and it’s been even less than that for the 38-year-old heavyweight, who finally makes his return to the Octagon this Saturday against Kennedy Nzechukwu. 

It’s been over two years since the Georgia product last fought, a time filled with injuries, hurricanes, and dealing with the loss of his wife in May of 2022 while still taking care of his two kids. But Barnett isn’t one to dwell on the tough times. In fact, he may be one of the most positive folks you’ll run into, so suffice to say that he’s just happy to be back.

“It’s not that I got lazy or anything, but with everything that happened with my wife, everybody says, ‘Oh yeah, I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine. But I wasn't fine. I had to take the time to get to a place to where I actually was, I won't say believing in myself, but actually taking the time for that mental health, and making sure the kids were straight. My big goal is them babies. So I was just taking time out for them.”

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Understandably, the loss of his wife due to encephalitis still stings, but he’s found strength in his 11-year-old daughter and nine-year-old son.

“We've been going to this company called Kate's Club, and they do grief counseling and stuff like that,” said Barnett. “And it's where kids and adults, if they've lost either a partner, mother or father, you get to go in there and you get to meet, you get to talk, and you get to be around folks that get it, because as much as people come up and be like, ‘Oh man, I know how you feel,’ and it's like, really? But my kids have definitely been the stone for me. That's supposed to be my job, but I was worried at one point because my daughter was just like, ‘Hey, you know what? You can get through this.’ And I was like, I’m supposed to say that to you. (Laughs) But me and my son, especially for that first couple months, we were just sap suckers, man. It was just a weird wave, and I feel like she (my wife) is still projecting through my daughter to us. That makes it easier to move forward how we have been. I asked her straight up, ‘How do you do that?’ She was like, ‘All I can do is think of all the positive things me and mommy did.’”

I tell Barnett it’s too early to be crying during an interview and we both laugh. Barnett has one of the best laughs you’ll hear, and it will change a somber mood to something quite different in a split second. And while injuries and his inability to travel during the recent hurricanes that hit the southern part of the U.S. added to his inactivity, it’s clear that getting things settled at home played a big role in him getting back to the business of being a heavyweight prizefighter. But while it is a business, Barnett has altered his attitude towards it as he approaches his fifth UFC appearance.

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“I never wanted to call it a ‘job’ because it's always been fun,” he said. As soon as it's called a job, all of a sudden it isn't fun. So I said, ‘You can love doing this, too; it doesn't have to be a job. It can still be fun.’ So I’m locked in on the adult side of me, job wise. This has to be locked in. This is what we can do. I don't think you understand what you can do with this opportunity to grow your brand, the Barnett Taekwondo Academy, and do all of that. And then on that other side, it's like, okay, now that we're back, let's show 'em how to have some fun. So I've had time to just hone in. I mean, I'm talking ups, downs, lefts and rights, and I'm finally right in the middle.”

That could be the description for his UFC career to this point, as well. Barnett is 2-2, with wins over Gian Villante and Jake Collier and losses to Ben Rothwell and Martin Buday. A win over Nzechukwu will take him over the .500 mark and allow him to start plotting bigger things that will get him out of that middle. And that’s precisely the plan.

“With everything that I've dealt with, the stuff that has recently happened, it's not a joke, but it's like, all right, whatever I went through, we’re going to figure this out,” Barnett said. “This is easy to figure out. And as much as all that sucked, I realized that expression, you squeeze a coal and it's going to become a diamond, is true. I feel like these are my diamond times coming. This is time for me to shine.” 

Of course, getting past Nzechukwu won’t be easy, but the Nigeria native is making his heavyweight debut in the UFC after 11 Octagon bouts at 205 pounds, and that’s got to give Barnett some edge, both psychologically and physically, especially since his two wins against Villante and Collier were against former light heavyweights.

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“I like to break down scenarios, and I know everybody's not the same, but there's people that are intelligent fighters,” he said. “So when it comes to fight time, it's more than just, ‘Okay, he throws a big overhand right.’ They break it down. I know for a fact Jon Jones is one of those fighters. He literally will look at a fight 15 times. It's literally like calculus for him. And you got to think somebody of his stature took a year and some change off to become a real heavyweight. And now this will be my third former 205er.  If you were to look at me, you'd be like, ain't no way that guy's supposed to be doing what he's supposed to be doing. I'm trying to make my own superhero. I've worked with Stipe (Miocic), I've worked with Jones, I've worked with Alistair (Overeem), I've worked with DC (Daniel Cormier), I've worked with all these guys. And I'm not saying I was in there doing anything, but I was holding my own with a lot of them. So I was like, ‘Chris, stop it. Buckle down, get your weight down, and you'll be right there next to them. You'll be able to call them for camp instead of them calling you for camp.’ So once that reality hit me, I started looking at the game completely different.”

It's diamond time.

Don't miss a moment of UFC 308: Topuria vs Holloway, live from Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates on October 26, 2024. Prelims start at 10am ET/7am PT, while the main card kicks off live on PPV at 2pm ET/11am PT.

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