Fedor-Barnett off; Barnett tests positive for steroids (again)

The WAMMA Heavyweight title fight between Josh Barnett and Fedor Emelianenko is off due to Barnett testing positive for steroids which has stopped him getting a licence for the fight. It’s the 2nd time that Barnett has tested positive, the other time coming after he defeated Randy Couture at UFC 37 for the UFC Heavyweight title. I’m quite disgusted by the whole thing to be honest. It took me a while to warm to Barnett because of the Couture fight and the fact that he has always denied it but over the last 12 months I’ve grown to like him. This changes everything. This is not baseball or soccer or athletics where if you cheat in this way you rob another competitor of their place. This is a combat sport and cheating by making yourself better with illegal substances has the potential to seriously injure or kill another fighter. If Barnett’s appeal fails, I’m quite happy to never see him fight again to be perfectly honest.

As for the Affliction card, so far Fabricio Werdum, Brett Rogers and Tito Ortiz have all ruled themselves out of the running. It’s looking like it’ll be Jeff Monson, who’s been doing alright against certain opponents of late. He scored a submission win over Sergey Kharitonov in DREAM this year and scored a controversial decision over Roy Nelson. He’s riding a seven fight win streak since losing to Barnett, with other wins over Mark Kerr and Ricco Rodriguez. Monson’s submission skills make him a dangerous fight for anyone, but I doubt he’ll get Fedor down and he’s likely to get knocked out in the opening two rounds.

Shields and Diaz triumph in Strikeforce catchweight bouts

Welterweight champion of the now defunct EliteXC organisation Jake Shields today scored a first round submission victory over the Middleweight champion of the same organisation in the main event of todays Strikeforce card. Shields appeared to be struggling in the early goings as his inferior stand-up and wrestling skills left him on the end of some hard strikes and unable to get the fight to the mat where his world class submission skills could come into play. Midway through the round however he shot in for a takedown, then countered Lawler’s defence with a guillotine choke before pulling guard. Lawler stood up with Shields still wrapped around him before being brought back to the mat where he was forced to tap. The win solidifies what was already pretty solid in that Shields is one of the best 170lbers in the world even though this fight was fought at a catchweight of 182lbs. Shields however seems intent on fighting at least once more at 185 as he called out Strikeforce Middleweight champion Cung Le who hasn’t defended his title since winning it from Frank Shamrock last March.

On the undercard fellow Cesar Gracie fighter Nick Diaz scored a third round submission over Scott Smith in another catchweight bout. Diaz dominated the heavy handed Smith in the stand-up as he peppered him with repeated shots (when I say repeated, I’m talking 150-200 a round) scoring with heavy body punches and right hooks to the head. Smith had his moments in the first round but the 2nd round on was all Diaz and a flurry at the end of the round left Smith looking like a beaten fighter between rounds. Diaz didn’t let up in the third, battering Smith until he could take no more which resulted in a takedown attempt that fell short by a long way. Diaz routinely took Smiths back and showed his submission skills, tapping Smith out with a rear naked choke. Diaz looked like a seriously dangerous fighter again and it’s unfortunate that him and Shields are team mates as that would make for a terrific fight.

In a fight that shakes up the Heavyweight division big time, undefeated Brett Rogers added former UFC Heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski to his resume’ with a stunning 22 second knockout in the first round of their clash. After a brief trade of feints, Rogers backed Arlovski into the fence where he unleased four heavy bombs on the Belarussian’s chin that left Arlovski out on all fours. With the win, Rogers moves to 10-0 with 9 knockouts and one submission (from strikes) with only one fight going to the 2nd round. The win sets Rogers up for a shot at Strikeforce Heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem and likely derails Arlovski’s boxing debut which was scheduled for the end of the month and also a possible rematch with WAMMA Heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko would be unlikely without a decent return from Arlovski. Arlovski’s chin looks very suspect and I doubt he’d get anywhere in pro boxing where the guys he’s fighting are better trained to land punches to the face then most MMA fighters. With his athleticism I’m sure he’d score some wins and may do alright, but I’d be picking even a tough journeyman with a decent punch over him.

The other fights saw Joe Riggs score a unanimous decision over Phil Baroni and Mike Whitehead survive a third round knockdown to win a unanimous decision over former UFC heavyweight champion Kevin Randleman. In some other news, the highly anticipated women’s mega bout between Gina Carano and ‘Cyborg’ Santos is on for August 15th. I’m hoping they can at least fight five minute rounds even if it’s only three of them and surely this would have to be for some sort of championship bout. The undercard (or main event, not sure which is which yet) sees Josh Thomson defend his Strikeforce Lightweight title against Gilbert Melendez.