Fedor Emelianenko vs Josh Barnett Cancelled

With just over a week to go before Affliction’s third and possibly final mixed martial arts event, Josh Barnett has been taken out of the main event due to a failed drug test. At the moment details are sketchy and there’s no word what the California State Athletic Commission found in his pee, but it is 100% for sure that his license to fight (a real thing, not just a potential Steven Seagal movie title) has been denied and he won’t be facing Fedor Emelianenko as planned.

Fedor Emelianenko - Image: Zuma Press

This leaves Affliction in a bad situation, made worse by the fact that they weren’t exactly in a good position to begin with. Thus far the clothing company has held two prior MMA events and both were drowning in red ink with speculation that losses were in the millions. The third show coming up on August 1st was going to have to pop big in order to keep Affliction in the business of throwing events, and with their headline fight in shambles that seems even less likely.

Now the big question is who will Fedor Emelianenko fight? This is where being such a badass is actually a problem: it’s nearly impossible for Affliction to find anyone ‘worthy’ in 10 days notice. As of now, the rumor mill is floating Bobby Lashley, Vitor Belfort, Brett Rogers, and Ricardo Arona as potential replacements with Belfort and Rogers both expressing interest. Unfortunately, Rogers is under contract with Strikeforce and Belfort is a middleweight – two weight classes under Fedor. That doesn’t mean the fights won’t happen, but it means Affliction will have to work even harder to push those square pegs through the round hole they’ve been dealt with.