It’s easy to remember a household name’s interview or a post-fight celebration from a double champion in the UFC, but to come into a promotion as a complete unknown to the fanbase and be the talk of the town years later is an accomplishment set for only true entertainers.
Regardless of what’s on the line, Cook remembers Barnett as a fighter’s fighter as much as he’s an entertainer’s entertainer, with as much heart and skill as he has rhythm.
“As much as he wants to win for himself, he really is fighting to entertain. I think you see that with every one of his fights and he’s very outspoken about it in every one of his post-fight interviews,” Cook said. “I think that he would do the same thing if he was fighting in front of ten people in Muskogee, Oklahoma. I just think that’s who he is. He’s an entertainer at heart.”
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Barnett isn’t the only notable name to make a stop in the XFN cage, as Jimmy Flick, Bella Mir, Greg Hardy, Kyle Crutchmer and many others have all flashed their skills in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Cook is proud to say that he’s definitely not the last fighter who will take the UFC by storm.
“I think [Nick] Piccininni has a lot of potential,” Cook said. “He’s at a weight class where there’s not a lot of guys. I think that he might be the next breakout star on the MMA side.”
It won’t be long until XFN delivers another head-turning star. Will it be Piccininni or will another kickboxer to go from 8-main tournament to superstardom?
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