Luke Barnatt 'not a big fan' of Venator FC 3 bout with 'Mayhem' Miller

Luke Barnatt’s UFC exit wasn’t glamorous. The final fight of a three-bout losing skid came in a lopsided loss to the struggling Mark Munoz in a bout Munoz announced would be the last of his career.

Barnatt’s (9-3) other two octagon defeats came in close split decisions against Roger Narvaez and Sean Strickland. Despite the close nature of those defeats, Barnatt told MMAjunkie Radio he thought the UFC did the right thing in cutting him from the roster.

“You know, no matter how tight my losses were – and I believe that two of them weren’t even technically losses, like you said, they were split decisions I still feel like I won – but if you lose three bouts, I believe you should be cut,” Barnatt said. “The UFC is the top of the game, and I believe it’s only going to help me get better, reevaluate and come back on a winning streak.

“At the time, when (UFC matchmaker Joe Silva) rang me and spoke about it, I was very accepting of the situation. I knew it was going to happen, and I didn’t see anything wrong with it. I was obviously – I didn’t want to leave, but I knew it was going to happen.”

Barnatt’s quest to build himself back up and return to the UFC led him to Venator FC, where he captured the promotion’s middleweight title with a rear-naked-choke victory over Mattia Schiavolin at Venator FC 2 this past December.

Now, he’s in the center of one of the most unusual situations in the sport when he meets MMA veteran Jason Miller (23-9) in May.

Miller has battled a host of issues – personal, mental and legal – in recent years. The 35-year-old was arrested in Irvine, Calif., just weeks ago on suspicion of DUI – five days after being jailed for a 911 hang-up call. The charges add to a laundry list of offenses that have occasionally landed him behind bars since his 2012 retirement from MMA, one of which led to a live-tweeted police standoff that required SWAT intervention.

Prior to his recent arrests, Miller spent at least one month in jail after allegedly assaulting a police officer.

When asked if there is a “plan B” in place should Miller’s issues keep him from fighting at the May 21 event in Milan, Italy, Barnatt said he “bloody hopes so” before expanding on his distaste for the matchup.

“I’m not a big fan of this fight, really,” Barnatt said. “In Venator they treat me very well. The guys over there are good guys. They came to me, and I said, ‘I’ll fight whoever you want. I’m the champ. Just find somebody, and I’ll fight them.’ And they were like, ‘We’re going to make sure we get you a good opponent.’ And blah, blah, blah. They came back to me with this ‘Mayhem’ Miller stuff, and it’s like, this guy’s obviously got problems. He’s obviously got big problems, but if he wants to fight, he wants to fight. It doesn’t bother me.

“But, then, he’s on the Internet giving out interviews where he’s drunk or pretending to be drunk, or he’s getting interviewed about beating women and all this stuff that’s not very good, in my opinion, for the sport and for the promotion. And then, worst of all, you’ve got the guy who owns the promotion, (Venator FC President and co-founder Frank Merenda), coming out and backing the guy, saying how he’s trying to give him a second chance. And I think the guy is crazy. It’s not good for Venator, and in the long run, it won’t be great.”

Barnatt isn’t backing out of the fight but said he wants more stability in an opponent than someone with Miller’s recent troubles and four years out of the sport.

And Merenda’s bizarre press release defending Miller and attacking the media clearly struck a bad note with Barnatt.

“I’m the one who has to fight him at the end of the day, and I’m happy to fight him if he’s going to show up,” Barnatt said. “But I don’t want to have to deal with ifs and buts and him going to jail. It’s not what I’m looking for at this point in my career. I’m looking for solid fights with solid opponents. And now you’ve got Frank out there, and I don’t know if he’s smoking the same thing Jason Miller is smoking to be on his side and be his friend and say everything is going to be OK. Just get me a solid opponent that’s going to show up. I don’t care about anything else.”

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