Josh Barnett Likely Out of Affliction: Trilogy Headliner; Belfort Could Face Fedor
Josh Barnett will likely be unable to fight Fedor Emelianenko on August 1 in the main event of Affliction: Trilogy after the California State Athletic Commission reportedly failed to license Barnett for the fight for what is being called a “positive test result.”
Sherdog was first to report the news early-Wednesday citing multiple sources, with Affliction not responding to requests for comment and the CSAC expected to issue a statement later today.
Barnett told Sherdog that he hadn’t yet heard anything about being ineligible for the fight.
According to the report, middleweight Vitor Belfort, who is scheduled to fight Jorge Santiago on the pay-per-view card, has agreed in principle to fight Fedor in place of Barnett. Belfort, the former UFC light heavyweight champion and heavyweight tournament winner, has won four-straight fights overall, including back-to-back middleweight wins over Terry Martin and Matt Lindland.
Heavyweight prospect Bobby Lashley is also under consideration as a replacement, but Lashley told Sherdog he didn’t know if he would accept the fight with Fedor on such short notice.
[Pictured: Fedor Emelianenko and Josh Barnett]
Tags: Bobby Lashley, Fedor Emelianenko, Josh Barnett, Vitor Belfort
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Pretty sad about Barnett but I’m actually more excited to see either one of the two possible replacements fight fedor. It’s just too bad it will be on short notice. I’d really like to see Lashley step up and take it though.
Lashley is not ready for Fedor.
why would you like to see lashley step up and take a fight with Fedor when the most accomplished fighters he’s seen have been Jason Guida and Bobb Sapp. That’s like running the boston marathon when the farthest you’ve run is 2 miles.
who saw this coming..
lol @ Lashley! God I hope not. That would be the stupidest thing Affliction could do. Fedor would obliterate him in seconds.
Belfort is really the best option they got, if Barnett can’t go. And sorry but that match up does not intrigue me whatsoever.
Affliction is in some serious trouble here.
I can’t believe this sh!t!! Unreal! If this is true, I’m not even watching affliction. I wanted to see Barnett and fedor, the only real challenge to him. If fedor fights anyone else, who cares? I have to say I don’t believe that Barnett would be that stupid, and if he’s denying it, its probably not true. It better be not true.
I half expected something to come up preventing this fight, but didn’t expect a “positive test result.” if Vitor steps up that could be interesting, he could get a KO early or Fedor could take him pretty quickly as well. Kind of ironic that Vitor would step up to HW to take on Fedor (who he did “call out” after beating Lindland) buy refused to step up to LHW to face Mousasi.
Lashley would be wise to not take the fight. I think Lashley is still way too green for Fedor, I mean, fat Guida nearly submitted him twice; what do you think Fedor would do? Hey Mousasi wanted to fight Fedor at some point, maye he can step up.
Well spoken Justin
Sorry for the typos, I posted that from my phone.
Dana spiked his red bull. Damn UFC
Barnett tested positive for being too legit of a fighter for Fedor’s liking.
On a more serious note, I don’t think it’s the worse thing in the world if Lashley were to accept this fight. If I were one of his handlers, would I recommend this to him? Probably not. But in a way it’s not unlike Forrest fighting Anderson Silva. There is really no downside. If he loses, well it was to Anderson Silva the (real) best p4p fighter alive, so his LHW ‘rank’ won’t be affected. But if he wins?! Wow, he just beat Anderson Silva!
Same for Lashley. I agree his odds are long and ugly, but it would give him some temendous bright-light experience. If he loses, so what, it’s a loss to the (pretend) best p4p fighter in the world so there is no shame in that, plus it was on short notice. Or maybe the short notice would hurt the skilled, game-planning tactitioner in Fedor, I don’t know. Again, Lashley would pick up some tremendously valuable experience which is his whole mission these days anyway. But if he won?! Wow, his stock would reach the stratosphere.
I imagine his odds are somewhere around the same odds were that such a green Brock Lesnar could hang with Randy Couture. Had to throw that one out there because there are so many parallels there…
jerod
I sorta see where you are coming from.
Buttttt how much of that valuable experience did TIMMMEHHH get in 14 seconds?
Or how much experience did AA get in 1 min 14 seconds?
Whats crazy is that each fighter left that fight and got KTFO in less than 30 seconds in their next fight.
Fedor ruins people man!!!No one is the same after him..
Bobby would be no different.Look at Big Nog Look at Cro-cop or Timmmeh or AA or Matt lindland Kevin Randleman for goodness sake he got beat by Mike Whitehead for crying out loud!
Dont you understand Fedor is a immortal to you mortal human beings!!! He can never be beat he holds the Excaliber while others come to fight using pencils!!
Of course you know I’M JOKING!!!
I think its the overall experience, not just during the fight. The experience of training for a huge title fight. The experience of dealing with your nerves during the pre-fight stuff, dealing with the crowd, with the hype, not to mention the experience of getting in there and pushing it around with a “legend.” It could be a very valuable lesson even if he gets choked out inside a minute.
Yeah man I got what you were saying.. I was just playing up to the whole Fedor is impossible to beat thang..
I’m in a funny feel good mood today.
Stay on the up and up homey!!
Jerod what possible “training” and getting ready for a big fight could you really accomplish in less than two weeks? If he had a month or two maybe, and even then it’d still be ugly. I do get what you mean but there’s less than two weeks here…
Exactly my thinking. Why not fight the “best.” Lashley, physically, is as daunting a task as any other HW available for this fight.
he is too green to win…I’m pretty sure a lot of others said that about Brock before he KO’d Randy….
Kurt Angle has been saying he wanted to do MMA… If this doesn’t happen, how disappointing is that? Vitor Belfort is a middleweight, and about 40 lbs. lighter. Sure, he’s looked good his last couple of fights, but that’s a bigger weight difference than Lesnar/Mir.
Well goodbye Affliction!!!
4 you Jchol
It’s all Brock Lesnars fault!! Him and his WWe ways have ruined the MMA nation. Now they are trying to bring in another Pro-Wrestler to face another legend of the sport and maybe make a name off of him!!
What next Hulk Hogan challanges for the HW title at the Super Hulk fights? Then Sting or maybe Batista for the K1 HW Belt?
Nooooooooooooo all is lost! Burn some stakes and hide your women and children.
Seriously though, if Vitor does fight Fedor and win!!!!!!!! Man what effects would that have on Affliction and their heavy weight division.
Even if Bobby lashley wins come to think about it.
Even if Fedor wins it proves nothing. Talk about Rich/Hendo being pointless. But I understand they gotta do something about this affliction card..
give fedor lashley, whats the worse that happens? lashley uses his size and strength to smother fedor ala brock-mir? and wins? i thought barnett wouldve “backed out”[forced out by the russian mob who are fedor's bodyguards] earlier instead of less than a month out from the fight.
LoL
Russian mob!! Good one..
On the Lashley use’ing his strength to smother Fedor ala Brock-Mir. I read that Mir {ofcourse} and Cro-cop say that it was cowardly and one dimensional {Mir} and it was a defeat to mma {cro-cop}!
If Bobby accepts which I doubt and pulls it off in similar fashion what will come of this and how will critics and boxing moter mouths and boxing analyst and causal fans and Na-sayers do, think and respond. AND MAN WILL VINCE McMAHON lose his mind laughing and How many more WWE or Pro-wrestleing stars transfer over?
Yeap my boy Jchol was right to fear!
MMA is ruined! NWO is taken over!!!
I’m not a Lesnar fan, and surely I can accept that his fight vs. Mir was one-dimensional. I’m on the fence with whether or not it was cowardice, but I absolutely disagree that it was bad for MMA. I’m not disagreeing with you, but with Cro-cop (or whomever said it). Because by that logic, so to are Hoyce Gracie, Matt Hughes, and Chuck Liddell ‘bad for MMA.’ That obvously is not true about those 3 guys so that logic is flawed but Brock’s little post-fight tantrum was not the best thing in the world for MMA though, but I think that is neither here nor there.
I don’t like that people are making excuses for Brock Lesnar’s opponents. And I don’t like that Brock should have to apologize for the way he manhandles fully grown men (again I am not a Lesnar fan). This is the heavyweight division. These are big boys who should be able to handle themselves in a fight. If you can’t handle a big behemoth on top of you, then learn BJJ, or work on your takedown defense, or drop down to 205 (all much easier said than done though!).
oh man, oh man. not cool. Bobby Lashley stepping in would be a no no. I would like to see Vitor take on Fedor but, what about the weight difference? Fedor should just come to the UFC and quit wasting time with Affliction. But I guess Fedor doesnt care to prove he is the best heavyweight in the world, and thats fine, I guess. He was going to beat Barnett anyway. What would Barnett test positive for? Weed? or roids? lol. Who cares. Affliction sucks!
4 to 1 odds in Vegas that Fedor signs with Dream after Affliction goes under.
Does Fedor cut any weight? I mean he fights at 225 to 230 I think. If he lost his vodka belly and worked on a physique less like Roy Nelson and more like James Irvin, couldn’t he get to 205? Just a thought.
Whoever faces Fedor, i just hope it’s a decent opponent who will be able to challenge him, if it’s not Barnett then i hope that Belfort does indeed replace him, this could be a great fight, both guys can finish eachother, but Lashey should not take this fight, he’ll regret it, he’s too new and green for this level of competition.
Well I stated when this fight was “announced” that I would believe it when the bell rings and Barnett and Fedor is in the same ring… I’m not suprised what so ever, I am slightly upset because well as a fan of MMA I have wanted to see them fight for damn near forever.
Barnett WTF guy? If this is true well my man you are a tard bottom line my man.. If he is suspended I hope that it is a long one I’m rather pissed about the situation but hey what I’m I to do? Is he still the #2 HW in the world, I dunno he doesn’t have a opportunity to prove it because he is a tard…
Vitor stepping up is going to be interesting to say the least (Melvin v Hunt type shh size wise), Belfort has spoke about facing Fedor and perhaps this is his chance, I don’t know how he will fare but best of luck to him.
Fedor is getting F~D in this situation and now he doesn’t know whom he is facing in a week and a half
WAMMA <—————- F~WAMMA
Affliction is screwed man their best shot at saving their org was Barnett v Fedor, now Barnett tests “positive” (rumor being) for another huge fight and now Afflicition has no headliner that they spent sooo much money on hyping.. Now the best opportunity is for Vitor to step up and beat Fedor so they can have another card for the rematch.. Affliction has no chance if Fedor simply destroys Vitor, this was a waste of money for Affliction it is unfortunate business wise..
Brett Rogers is the “dark horse” (no pun) in this situation for both Affliction and StrikeForce he should be a very popular man rightnow
Jeff Monson has called Fedor out for sometime now, do you give him a shot at the Champ?
If this were the UFC the Fedor fight would be scrapped. There’s no way they’d send a champ and face of the organization out there in less than two weeks against an unnamed guy. However, the fact that Affliction is looking for a replacement really sells the point that this is it. I never thought this fight would happen to be honest but I am disappointed none the less.
On the Barnett side, I’m a little curious to see what the positive test was. Was it a PED or some sort of illness because all it says is a positive test. I don’t think he’d be dumb enough to do something like that after already getting in trouble once for it and being so adamant since that one time about having never done anything wrong. Definitely interested to see what it is.
He tested positive for donuts.
Or maybe it was a Honeybaked Ham.
In all seriousness, I’m putting my money on a diuretic masking agent.
nice I’m thinking lead for the hands…
then again the Russian government does have a history of injecting “threats to the state” with radiation… so if in Barnett’s next fight he runs over someone and yells “I’m the Juggnaught, B1TCH!” then will we will know…
Seriously though, as much as I hope that’s not it, it wouldn’t surprise me if it was.
Someone juiced the syrup used on those silver dollar pancakes he calls nipples
Boy you guys are on it hard today!!!
Fr calling people tards, and dark horses!!
Bsbiz testing positive for donuts and Honeybaked Ham.
Chrisl screaming I’m the Juggernaught B1TCH!!!!
Dbiz with the silver dollar pancake nipples!!
Toooo Funny boy ya’ll got me hurting laughing right now.
I could only imagine the reactions of the Fedorians if Lashley were to beat him. oh man that would turn the MMa world upside down. Lashley would probably get a molotov cocltail through his front window.
Seriously though Lashley shouldnt take this fight its to much to soon.
But if he does I gues you could look at it as a way for him to realy see where hes at right now. Like if he makes it out of the first round thta sais something, plus it gives him some great experience. I have a feeling they will throw some crazy money at the guy in an attempt to turn the card around, and maybe even try and make some money this time around.
AS with Belfort, well here we ahave another fighter competing 2 weight classes below fedor, although come fight night Vitor wouldlikley be somewhere near 200-210 so I dont think it will be any bigger of a weight differenc than there would have been between Fedor and Barnett.
If belfort comes well prepared he could handle his own. But I see Fedor handling anybody they throw at Fedor right now. Except maybe Sylvia I think he could get him this time…..
Shaq has tossed his hat in the ring to take on Fedor August 1.
Would you watch that?
@OnlyTrue1 – thanks for the mention.
Remember you heard it here first when I preached against the dangers of mixing pro wrestling with MMA.
@dbiz – thank you for not making me the only MMA fan on the planet to be disturbed by Barnett’s nipples…at one point I was praying he was going to announce he would fight in a rashguard from here on out…
@fr702 – I can explain Barnett’s failed test.
It was karma kicking me square in the pills. For how long have I railed against Brock Lesnar,who has passed his drug screening with flying colors? I’ve been a Barnett supporter for years, bending people’s ear about how if he got a shot in the UFC he could really make it this time, hoping that he’d ditch that Affliction sideshow for Strikeforce, and so on, and what does the Baby-Faced PEDassin do?
Flunk his pi$$ test AGAIN, knock his MMA career off of the rails AGAIN, and make me look like a world-class tool for supporting him…AGAIN.
Also, there is no suitable substitute for Barnett in the Fedor fight. For most it will be too short a notice, or they’ll be too small, too inexperienced, or too unskilled to face Fedor, especially if his supporter are correct in that Fedor has never lost his PRIDE-ful performance level in spite of poor competition the last few years.
As for who will show up to face Fedor on fight night, I can just see Affliction signing Dennis Rodman to come in and face Fedor, and D-Rod will be escorted to the ring by the Macho Man and some stripper chicks…
OOOOOwwwwwww yeaaaaahhhh!!!
Step into a slim jim!!
Why dont they just get dan henderson to fight Fedor. The ufc does it all the time when they need a big name and when Rampage or GSP aint available, plus I heard Fedor was mouthing off soooo who better than Mr. A-Bomb “shut yo mouth” himself!!