Source: UG

 Josh Barnett who earlier last week was found positive for steroids which ultimately led to the demise of the affliction card has issued a statement through his manger Shannon Hooper:

The media has reported that Mixed Martial Arts Heavyweight fighter Josh Barnett would not be eligible to fight Fedor Emelianenko at Affliction Trilogy as he was denied his California license due to an alleged positive test for 2α-methyl-5α-androstan-3α-ol-17-one, which is purportedly a metabolite of a banned substance. Mr. Barnett was shocked at these allegations and was extremely disappointed to learn that Affliction had made the hasty decision to cancel the August 1st event in its entirety. Mr. Barnett vehemently denies intentionally ingesting any banned substances in preparation for the August 1st fight and he is looking forward to presenting his case to the California State Athletic Commission.

In the meantime, Mr. Barnett has yet to learn of the results of the B sample testing and he has not received any of the documentation that provides further details of the alleged positive sample despite numerous requests. In fact, the documentation that Mr. Barnett has received raises serious questions about the integrity of the sample and the validity of the results themselves.

At this time Mr. Barnett would like to thank his fans and colleagues for their ongoing support and faith in him. He intends to vigorously defend himself against these allegations and hopes for a swift resolution to this matter so he can get back to what he does best — fighting!

I would like to further add that Josh is as disappointed as all of his fans and supporters that he will not be fighting on August 1st. He also empathizes with all of the other fighters that were scheduled to appear on the card and shares their frustration and shock at the cancellation of the entire event.”

This is the 3rd time Barnett has been tested positive for steroids. With the results of the B test still unknown, it seems unlikely it will come back in Josh’s favour. Recent media outlets have stated that it looks like Josh will be heading to Japan to revive his old Pro Wrestling career.

 

Jeff Monson, the hulking highly rated heavyweight known to his fans as “The Snowman”, has pled guilty to malicious mischief for spray-painting an anarchist symbol on the Washington State Capital in 2008 according to a recent report from the Associated Press.

 The warrant for his arrest wasn’t issued until January 14, 2009 after pictures of Monson committing the crime surfaced in ESPN The Magazine.

 Monson also entered an Alford plea for similar crimes committed at the Lacey Armed Services Recruitment Center, which means he didn’t admit guilt, but admitted there was enough evidence to convict him if he tried to challenge it.

 It is being reported that prosecutors will be seeking a jail-term of 90 days and a $21,894 restitution fee as part of a plea deal.

 “The Snowman” is scheduled for sentencing on October 1 and will remain free until then.

 Monson recently made headlines as being one of the heavyweights willing to step up and fight Fedor Emelianenko in place of Josh Barnett before “Affliction Trilogy” was ultimately cancelled.

 He is currently on a seven fight win streak and boasts an overall MMA record of 30-8.

Weigh-ins for “WEC 42: Torres vs. Bowles” will take place Saturday, Aug. 8, at Body English at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

 The following day’s Versus-televised event, which features a headline bout of WEC bantamweight champion Miguel Torres vs. top contender Brian Bowles, also takes place at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. The show will be held in the casino’s event venue, The Joint.

 The full lineup for WEC 42 includes:

 MAIN CARD

 Champ Miguel Torres vs. Brian Bowles (for WEC bantamweight title)

Joseph Benavidez vs. Dominick Cruz

Danny Castillo vs. Ricardo Lamas

Jeff Curran vs. Takeya Mizugaki

PRELIMINARY CARD

 Leonard Garcia vs. Jameel Massouh

Fredson Paixao vs. Cole Province

Marcus Hicks and Shane Roller

Phil Cardella vs. Ed Ratcliff

John Hosman vs. Rani Yayha

Rafael Dias vs. Diego Nunes

Recently published by Sherdog.com is news that the Ben Rothwell v Chase Gormely fight, which was previously set for the now collapsed Affliction Trilogy card will be hosted by the UFC at UFC 104.

This is good news for fight fans as well as Rothwell and Gormley. This heavyweight matchup is bound to be exciting. Rothwell (30-6), regarded by many as a top heavyweight was on riding a 13 win streak until his recent loss to Andre Arlovski. After the Arlovski loss; Ben rebounded with an impressive 1st round stoppage win over Chris Guillen.

Meanwhile, Chase Gormely (6-0) a standout wrestler who looking to put a 7th feather in his perfect cap. Hopefully more fighters who were left in lurch by Affliction get swopped up by other organisations soon. More updates to come and more news unfolds.

So, not all bad news has come from the collapse of Affliction. What was undoubtedly one of the most eagerly anticipated fights on the Trilogy card has now been rescued by Strikeforce. Strikeforce have recently announced that Gegard Mousasi will challenge Renato “Babalu” Sobral for his light heavyweight belt. This will take place on Strikeforce’s August 15th card in San Jose.

This segment of the fight will be a part of the maincard and will be aired on TV.

With the collapse of Afflicton let’s hope that more satisfying matchup’s stare to appear in the near future.

According to a recent post on Dana Whites Twitter page, it looks like not only have Tito and Dana kissed and made up; but, Tito is possibly back in the UFC. I imagine Dana will spill all the beans on his July 31st press conference which is going to be “crazy”.

With Tito (assumingly) back in the mix hopefully this will save the UFC 103 card which I was previously meant to be Henderson v Franklin II. I guess Zuffa felt the reverberation of 10 million face palms all going off at once after this matchup was announced. And pulled the matchup was per speculation on Rich Franklins Twitter:

 

 So, maybe, just maybe there could be a possible Hendo or Franklin v Tito for UFC 103? Or maybe since the collapse of Affliction there could be a possible Vitor v Hendo / Franklin v Tito matchup. With any luck Dana will spill all the beans in his press conference and answer all these questions. Stay tuned for more updates.

UFC 102: Couture vs. Nogueira is an upcoming mixed martial arts event to be held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) on August 29, 2009 in Portland, Oregon. It will feature former UFC Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight champion, Randy Couture, facing off against former PRIDE heavyweight and UFC Interim Heavyweight champion, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.

Main card

Heavyweight bout: Randy Couture vs. Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira
Light Heavyweight bout: Keith Jardine vs. Thiago Silva
Middleweight bout: Chris Leben vs. Jake Rosholt
Middleweight bout: Nate Marquardt vs. Demian Maia

Preliminary card

Heavyweight bout: Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Chris Tuchscherer
Middleweight bout: Wilson Gouveia vs. James Irvin
Heavyweight bout: Justin McCully vs. Mike Russow
Heavyweight bout: Tim Hague vs. Todd Duffee
Middleweight bout: Nick Catone vs. Mark Muñoz
Lightweight bout: Matt Veach vs. Evan Dunham

All is quite on the western front. There has been rumours from both sides of media. One side saying the UFC is close to closing a deal with Fedor. The other, are saying that things aren’t looking great and UFC fans should prepare for the worst.

It has been recently slated by Fedors manager & M1 Boss; Vadim Finkelchtein that they would be willing to negotiate and come to an agreement with the UFC but only if they are prepared to co-promote Fedor with M1. Judging by UFC’s history and dealing with other organisations; I highly doubt the UFC would fold to this request.

On the other hand, in order to persuade Fedor and Vadim out of the co-promotion offer, the UFC has given Fedor quite a lucrative contract proposal. Carmichael Dave a CBS MMA radio host recently published on his twitter what the UFC have offered Fedor. To say the least, it is very appealing, take a look:

The UFC offered Fedor a 6 fight, 30 million dollar contract. That’s 5 mil a fight

• The UFC offered Fedor an immediate title shot


• Lesnar/Fedor would be the biggest PPV in MMA history and the UFC offered M-1 Global a cut of the PPV on top of Fedor’s purse.


• Fedor was free to wear as many M-1 logoed items as he wished.


• The UFC relented on allowing fedor to compete in combat Sambo

 

If you were Fedor, you would be crazy not to except this deal, right? Wrong. Numerous media outlets have stated that regardless of how beneficial the contract is; if the UFC won’t co-promote with M1 Global then M1 won’t play ball.

With everyone itching to get their hands on the Last Emperor, maybe another promotion such as Strikeforce will conform to Vadmin’s demands. This story is still unfolding, so stay posted for updates.