Courtesty, MMAnews.Com ;
"Nothing official at the moment but Mike Chiappetta at MMAfanhouse is reporting Affliction 3 will feature a main event of Fedor Emelianenko Vs. Josh Barnett on August 1st in Anahiem, CA:
Affliction’s third event, featuring a main event of Fedor Emelianenko vs. Josh Barnett and taking place at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., on August 1, should be officially announced within days, a source with knowledge of the situation told FanHouse.
Though neither Emelianenko or Barnett has signed official bout agreements, they have both verbally accepted the matchup, according to the source."
They both verbally agree’d, so I’d assume they are going to announce it officially if they haven’t already. At first glance I was like why the hell is Fedor facing Josh Barnett. I haven’t really followed Barnett since his stint in UFC, and figured it was going to be Fedor versus a past his prime heavy weight he was going to demolish.
However looking at Barnett’s record, I think there is a very real chance Barnett could jeapordize Fedor’s legacy of destruction.
Barnett holds wins over, Randy Couture, Pedro Rizzo, Aleksander Emelieneko, Dan Severn, Yuki Kondo, Mark Hunt, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, and Jeff Monson. While some of these guys are not so special, they are all very versed wrestlers/grapplers.
Out of Barnetts 24 wins, 15 came by way of submission. His only losses come from Cro Cop (3 losses!), Pedro Rizzo, and Nogueira. Two of which he “avenged”.
Will his skills as a wrestler well versed in submissions make him a better match up for Fedor? He’s on a 4 fight win streak, 3 of which came in 2008, 1 in 2009 so far.
Anyone else think Barnett has some upset potential? I’m going to download his 08 fights and his 09 fights to get a better idea.