Josh Barnett 'vibes' with Dana White's M.O. and wants to be a part of UFC's future

Props: Sherdog.com
Quoteworthy:

"Things have changed. This is major and great things can come from it and I just want to be a part of that, and the way I can best do that is be the best fighter I can be ... I’m not here to make this a personal vendetta or judgment with [Dana], especially in terms of business. I know what I’ve got to do and I know what his position is in terms of being the president of the UFC, and that he has excelled at. He’s done a great job. It makes a difference with everything ... If he hates me, he hates me; but if he sees the value in what I bring to the table as a fighter I think that will speak for itself. But you know what? I don’t hate Dana and I do business, and I’ll go out there and do the absolute best that I can do and if he happens to be my employer … literally, if Dana White has an office that I have to write into every day, because that’s the person I report to for my business, well that’s what I’ll do. There is a part of me that absolutely wishes that things between myself and the UFC had worked out differently. ... Dana likes to go out there and crush, kill, pillage, whatever; and let’s face it, that’s kind of my M.O. As much as I may have ever had difficulty with Dana at the end of the day there is a part of me that absolutely vibes with what he is does. Whether he wants to think about it or not, here and now, no bulls**t, Dana White is pretty f--king metal and I am a metal dude … we’ll at least have that sort of respect that can’t be overlooked."

Doh! Count Josh Barnett as one of many fighters who may find themselves easing off the anti-UFC rhetoric after news broke last Saturday that Strikeforce had been purchased by Zuffa. That's because the San Jose-based promotion, once a sanctuary for the Octagon's flotsam and jetsam, is now under the command of UFC President Dana White. The castaways stranded on the island of misfit toys may no longer have a place to call home that isn't somehow directly influenced by White -- unless you count Bjorn Rebney and his little engine that could named Bellator. But can Rebney afford some of the higher-profile talent that chooses to stay stateside? Or should fans expect a mass exodus to Japan? Sengoku is likely dead in the water and DREAM has a history of not paying fighters in a timely fashion. Is it time for the Barnett's and the Paul Daley's of the fight world to make amends? Murky waters, but let's hear your perspective.