from mmajunkie.com
Top-ranked heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko (30-1) has confirmed what most of already knew: He's agreed to fight former UFC champion Josh Barnett (24-5) at Affliction's upcoming third show.
Affliction hasn't officially announced the fight, though Affliction Vice President Tom Atencio and representatives for Barnett have said agreements are in place.
Affliction III takes place Aug. 1. As Atencio recently told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio), it's expected to be held at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.
The night's main card airs on pay-per-view, and the preliminary card is expected to air on HDNet.
Emelianenko today told M-1Global.com about the fight with Barnett.
"I am always 100 percent involved in the negotiations especially with regards to the Barnett fight," Emelianenko stated. "We discussed this fight with the whole team (trainers, coaches, management), so as a team we agreed to a fight with Barnett."
Emelianenko told the website he considers Barnett a friend and feels no need to avenge his brother's loss to Barnett, who defeated Aleksander Emelianenko at a 2006 PRIDE event.
"There is no desire for revenge," Fedor stated. "This is a totally separate fight."
Atencio first mentioned the possibility of Emelianenko vs. Barnett after both fighters won their respective bouts at January's Affliction card. (Emelianenko defeated Andrei Arlovski with a first-round TKO, and Barnett scored a third-round TKO over a resilient Gilbert Yvel.)
(Atencio also recently told MMAjunkie.com Radio he's working on Paul Buentello vs. Tim Sylvia and Chris Horodecki vs. Dan Lauzon matchups for the card.)
Emelianenko enters the bout with a 26-fight winning streak (with one no-contest) and consecutive victories over former UFC champs, Arlovski and Tim Sylvia. In fact, although Emelianenko has failed to reach a deal with the UFC (despite past attempts), Barnett could become his sixth win over a former UFC title-holder.
Barnett, meanwhile, has won four straight and five of his past six fights to climb back near the top of the worldwide heavyweight rankings. He went 4-0 in 2008 with wins over Hidehiko Yoshida, Jeff Monson, Pedro Rizzo and Yvel.
The Emelianenko vs. Barnett fight will likely be the biggest non-UFC fight of 2009.
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