Barnett suspension an end for Affliction?
Josh Barnett is officially out of Affliction’s big Aug. 1 show where he was supposed to meet Fedor Emelianenko. That sucks. It ruins what was supposed to be one of the biggest heavyweight bouts in recent memory. Barnett certainly would’ve been a better opponent than Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski were for Fedor.
In case you haven’t heard, Barnett tested positive for a banned substance. The full story is over at Yahoo, among other places.
The possible replacements don’t seem all that intriguing, either. It looks like Vitor Belfort will take on Fedor instead. Other rumored bouts are against Brett Rogers or Bobby Lashley, neither of whom are ready for Fedor. Truth be told, Belfort probably isn’t in proper shape for Fedor either.
An e-mailer posed a great question when this news came out: is this the final nail in the coffin for Affliction? This upcoming show is the weakest of the three cards they’ve put together and they were relying heavily on Fedor-Barnett. This could be disastrous for the promotion, which was never that successful to begin with.
In case you haven’t heard, Barnett tested positive for a banned substance. The full story is over at Yahoo, among other places.
The possible replacements don’t seem all that intriguing, either. It looks like Vitor Belfort will take on Fedor instead. Other rumored bouts are against Brett Rogers or Bobby Lashley, neither of whom are ready for Fedor. Truth be told, Belfort probably isn’t in proper shape for Fedor either.
An e-mailer posed a great question when this news came out: is this the final nail in the coffin for Affliction? This upcoming show is the weakest of the three cards they’ve put together and they were relying heavily on Fedor-Barnett. This could be disastrous for the promotion, which was never that successful to begin with.
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Comments
It sucks this fight isn't going to happen but honestly it won't effect Affliction as much as some people may think. It is well documented that Dana White has all intentions of bringing Fedor to the UFC to set up a superfight with Lesnar and once that happens Affliction will lose its biggest star. The Fedor-Barnett fight may have been good for Affliction since UFC has been throwing Fedor's name around and drawing attention to him from common fans but this thing is destined to turn out the same no matter who Fedor fights in his last Affliction fight,
Posted by: thecharmcitysportsblog.blogspot.com | July 23, 2009 5:52 AM
Vitor deserves way more credit. He's faught in the heavyweight division, he's beaten some of the biggest names in MMA, he's a black belt in JuJitsu, has some of the fastest hands anyone has seen and he's got some of the most memorable fights in UFC history.
I don't think Fedor would want to stand up with him.
Posted by: The Guy | July 23, 2009 10:34 AM
Hasn't Vitor been training for a middleweight fight for next weekend?
Posted by: Corey | July 23, 2009 2:49 PM