Affliction...Dead?

With the recent news of Josh Barnett's positive steroid test, Affliction was put between a rock and a hard place to find a suitable opponent for the #1 ranked heavyweight fighter in the world, Fedor Emelianenko. Vitor Belfort was believed to be the top prospect to step in on short notice but apparently this was just not meant to be. It was announced earlier today that the entire pay-per-view has been cancelled which has thrown the MMA community into a frenzy. This has brought up many questions that will hopefully be answered within the next few days.

First, and to me most importantly, what will happen to all of the fighters that have spent weeks and weeks training for a fight on the prestigious card? Will they be paid the full amount of their purse? Will they be paid a percentage of their purse? What about the sponsors that have paid the fighters money to be on their fight shorts? If I were a fighter, I would be completely unnerved at the news of the cancellation. Josh Barnett would be the first person to receive hate mail from me for his shameful positive drug test. After that, I would have to ask why the heck such a big card was being canceled when there were at least 5 fighters being tossed around as a replacement! Sure, the epic matchup of Fedor-Barnett wouldn't be present but at least the fans would get to see Fedor in action. After all, it wasn't Barnett who was going to sell the pay-per-view. It will be very interesting to see what the Affliction higher-ups will do to satisfy their loyal fighters. If these guys have shelled out thousands of dollars for a training camp and get paid nothing, I wouldn't be surprised if many never fight for the company again.

Next, how bad must Josh Barnett feel? He has already said he was ashamed of the results but the bad thing is he has NOT yet admitted to the steroid use! This is your third time Josh! It is NOT a mistake brother! You have been down this road before and we can only hope the appropriate action is taken to prevent him from ever doing this again! As much as I like Barnett, it's becoming harder and harder to stay on his bandwagon!

With the event canceled and the door wide open, now is the time for Dana White to step in and make some deals. I imagine we could see fight deals signed for Fedor and Vitor to compete in the UFC within the next few weeks. Many are calling it a conspiracy theory between Dana and Barnett, but I don't think it's that...at least not yet. It will be VERY interesting to see what unfolds on both Affliction and UFC's behalf! Perhaps Affliction will crumble, the UFC will buy out their fighter contracts and the Affliction brand will be welcome yet again in the octagon. Either way you look at it, one person wins BIG in this entire deal.



Until then...