Barnett Vs. Fedor In Jeopardy?

As reported here first, it is being widely reported that the much-anticipated main event for Affliction: Trilogy, scheduled for Aug. 1, is in jeopardy of being cancelled.

Numerous reports are stating that Josh Barnett has failed a wellness test conducted by the California State Athletic Commission and will not license Barnett to fight WAMMA Champion and arguably the best fighter in the world, Fedor Emelianenko.

With this being Affliction's biggest and possibly last card to date, officials are scrambling to find a suitable replace to match up with Emelianenko.

Fedor has reportedly been given a choice to fight either former pro wrestling star Bobby Lashley or former UFC Light-Heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort, both of which have agreed in principal to fight the Russian.

This could be a major blow to Affliction. The main event of Barnett vs. Emelianenko was touted to be one of the biggest fights ever promoted and Fedor's biggest challenge of his very illustrious career.

Barnett has insisted that he will clear his name.

"No matter what happens with this, I can assure you I will clear my name," Barnett said, "This will not be something that I am defined by.”

This would be Barnett's second failed drug test, with the first coming from the Nevada State Athletic Committee back in 2002 during his UFC tenure. Barnett was stripped of the UFC heavyweight championship.

So who would make the best fit as a replacement?

One would have to look at Bobby Lashley over Vitor. Even though Lashley is much more inexperienced than the Belfort, Vitor, who was to be competing at 185 at "Trilogy," would simply be giving away too much weight to Fedor.

Quite frankly, one cannot be thrilled by both Belfort and Lashley. Lashley simply doesn't have the experience to give Fedor a run for his money, and Vitor could be too small in terms of weight to be affective against Fedor.

If this fight were to be a few months away, Vitor could have had time to bulk up and put on some weight properly, but with the fight just 11 days away, you have to wonder if Belfort can bulk up without getting out of shape.

Sure, upsets regarding size have happened before, most notably Seth Petruzell's shocking win over Kimbo Slice. Let's face it, when you're going against arguably the best fighter in the world, size is a drastic matter.

On the possible fight with Fedor, Belfort said "I don't know if I would want it right now. Since the last fight, I haven't really been into training again. That fight is next week. That would be something I would really have to take a look at.

"To just jump in there probably wouldn't be the smartest thing for me right now. A lot of people would say that might be a money fight. They figure, 'If we give him enough money, will he do it?' That's what people tend to look at. I don't want to get into fighting for the money so much right now."

Could Affliction bring in an outside star for the one fight? Perhaps the likes of Brett Rogers or perhaps give Fedor's last victim Andrei Arlovski another shot against Emelianenko.

MMA free agent Tito Ortiz has also stated numerous times that he would like to fight Fedor in a catchweight fight. It will be extremely unlikely that Ortiz will be brought in to fight Fedor on Aug. 1.

Whatever the situation, both Affliction fighting officials and the fans may be highly disappointed that the much hyped fight between Barnett and Fedor may not go down, no matter who is ushered in to fight The Last Emperor.

Dan Carey is co-founder of Minnesota Sports Guys at http://themnsportsguys.blogspot.com/ and also is a sports-humor writer at http://www.bleacherreport.com/ and a contributor to http://www.MMAFaze.com