It was unfortunate for the Affliction hardcore fans to know that the scheduled fight of Josh Barnett and Fedor Emelianenko on August 1 was canceled due to a positive anabolic steroids test of Barnett. He was not given the license to fight in the said event which will be held in Honda Center on Anaheim. The California State Athletic Commission conducts steroid tests to fighters in every competition. The mandatory test which includes out-of-competition test is imposed by California and Nevada athletic associations to ensure that all fighters are clean of any performance enhancing substances.

The promotional company, Affliction, have failed to look for an immediate replacement for Barnett. Although they were able to identify some possible opponents but said it would be impossible to promote it given a very short period of time. Tom Atencio, vice president of the company said that finding replacement for Barnett was a huge endeavor. He was thrilled on the amount of fighters willing to take on the challenge. “But in the end, we just didn’t have enough time to promote a new fight to our standards,” he said.

The fighters considered as a replacement for heavyweight Barnett includes Brett Rogers, Vitor Belfort and former pro wrestler Bobby Lashley. However, Lashley was not interested to fight Emelianenko and said that it is not the fight he would be interested in taking at this point in his career.

This problem forced the mixed martial arts organization to step out of the fight promotion business. In its return, the company was only able to promote two major events. The management decided to reunite with their one-time business partner UFC. This new business relationship was confirmed by Affliction co-founder Eric Foss. “Our brand is synonymous with the ‘Live Fast’ approach to life, and UFC is the perfect venue for us to market our brand,” Foss said.

Affliction will come back as another partner of Ultimate Fighting Championship but as an apparel provider. UFC president Dana White welcomed this development. “We are excited about the return of Affliction to the UFC and look forward to seeing our fighters once again walk into the octagon wearing the Affliction brand,” White said. “Affliction is an innovator of mixing fashion with this sport,” he added.

The positive steroid test of Josh Barnett is not the first in his career. He was also suspended in 2002 for the same offense when he beat Randy Couture for the UFC heavyweight championship title. Although he refutes the result (as what all UFC fighters does when tested positive for steroids) but he was still banned by the UFC. Barnett established another career in Japan as a pro wrestler. His comeback in the US to fight in MMA is considered as a big chance to re-establish his career but with the recent steroid result, he may never fight again in any US sanctioned event. MMA companies will not risk loosing money for a fighter known of using anabolic steroids to win a title.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS