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.

Fedor vs Barnett at Affliction: Trilogy

Affliction’s third event will take place August 1st and the main event will again feature the biggest non-UFC MMA star in the world, Fedor Emelianenko. Fedor will again take on another top heavyweight challenger as he meets former UFC Heavyweight champion and PRIDE 2006 openweight Grand Prix Runner-up Josh Barnett. This should further silence critics of Emelianenko as it is the third top contender Fedor will have faced in just over a 12 month period after the PRIDE Heavyweight Champion destroyed Tim Sylvia last July and then scored a dramatic 1st round knockout over Andrei Arlovski in January. Barnett is riding a four fight winning streak since PRIDE where he went 5-4 with all four losses coming against either Mirko Cro Cop or Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Barnett’s last outing in January saw him score a third round stoppage over MMA bad boy Gilbert Yvel.

The undercard has yet to be announced, although a few rumours have been floating around. Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia has been rumoured to meet Paul Buentello who is 2-0 under the Affliction banner. Vitor Belfort and Gegard Mousasi could meet in what would be an excellent matchup with the only obstacle being the weight. Belfort wants 185lbs, Mousasi wants a catchweight as he can’t make Middleweight anymore. Mousasi’s request seems more reasonable as Vitor has campaigned as a 205lber for much of his career. There’s bound to be a few developments over the coming weeks.