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Afffliction "Trilogy" main
event is in the dumpster. Josh Bartnett tested positive for anabolic
steroids, resulting in the state denying his license.
Early Thursday
morning, Barnett issued a blog posting on his official Myspace
account responding to the situation.
"Many of you are wondering what's happening," he wrote. "What I can
say is that when applying for my license, the CSAC asked for me to
submit a urine sample for testing prior to granting my license as
they do with everyone, I believe. It was not a random test. I had no
reason to believe there would be any issues and went in to submit my
sample at the earliest possible opportunity on June 25th. I never
once thought there would be a problem.
"My representatives and I are working to gather as much info as
possible and handle this situation as best as we can. I am
embarrassed and want for nothing more than to resolve this issue and
receive a license from the State of California as I have done many
times already and for other states as well.
I am very thankful for all the great family, friends and fans that
still support me."
Fedor had this to say at his press
conference:
"I feel disappointed about this
situation," said Fedor, before adding, "But I will fight anyone who
Affliction puts in front of me. I know a lot of fans waited for this
fight to happen and I am sorry for them. I can't do much about it
now but I am in good shape, my training has been good and continues
to go well. ...
"From now on it all about accuracy, precision and execution. There
was no specific manner to prepare for the planned bout with Josh
Barnett. It's all the same: standup and ground game... Undoubtedly,
it's better to know the name of your opponent long before the fight
though."
"Right now, it's rumors. I'm working on something and I think
anybody that knows me knows I'm not going to say anything until I
have something finalized," said Affliction vice president Tom
Atencio. "At this point everything's rumors. I am working towards
finding somebody, but until I have the contracts signed I'm not
saying anything."
The fight between Fedor and Barnett was set to be a five-round title
fight, but again, Atencio said it's a wait-and-see situation for the
replacement fighter if the bout would end up as a championship bout
or a three-round non-title affair. "It's up to whomever steps up and
whatever agreement we come to," he commented.
So far, the leading candidate to face Emelianenko appears to be
Vitor Belfort, who would vacate his main card slot against Jorge
Santiago to headline against the heavier Russian. Jeff Monson has
thrown his hat into the ring for possible replacements, along with a
slew of others.
According to Dave Meltzer of Yahoo! Sports, Affliction
representatives are offering a $500,000 purse to the eventual
replacement for Barnett.
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