Fedor Emelianenko, Josh Barnett Verbally Agree to Affliction III

(Josh’s “retarded proctologist” bit always brought a half-smile to Fedor’s face. Photo courtesy of fcfighter.com)

Yes, Affliction has yanked away the proverbial football a couple times before, but according to a new report on MMA Fanhouse, Fedor Emelianenko and Josh Barnett are really, truly going to fight this summer — we hope:
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…

The August 1 show will also likely feature a bout between Brazilian slugger Vitor Belfort and surging star Gegard Mousasi, according to the source, though Mousasi first has a May 26 DREAM fight with Mark Hunt in Japan…Meanwhile, [Tim] Sylvia will likely take on either Paul Buentello or [Gilbert] Yvel.

From a fan’s perspective, the longtime promise of an Emelianenko/Barnett match has been Affliction’s sole reason for existing, and we know it’ll be a great fight, no matter when it happens. But this is probably going to be Affliction’s last event, and it’s hard to work up much grief over that fact. With only three shows scheduled in 13 months, Affliction’s lack of forward momentum has caused MMA fans to pretty much forget about them. (Even Tom Atencio is finding other things to do.) We finally have a legitimate alternative to the UFC — Strikeforce, which is putting on entertaining cards for free — and the ill-fated “T-shirt company as fight promoter” experiment now just feels out of place. Remember them well.