AFFLICTION TRILOGY; FEDOR VS BARNETT OFFICIAL

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AFFLICTION TRILOGY; FEDOR VS BARNETT OFFICIAL
Friday, May 29, 2009 - by MMAWeekly.com Staff

Affliction on Friday made its third event, "Trilogy," official, via its official website. The posting on its site confirms the main event bout pitting current No. 1 ranked heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko against No. 2 ranked Josh Barnett.

As previously reported, the event will take place on Aug. 1 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. The main card bouts will be broadcast live on Showtime PPV with the undercard telecast live on HDNet.

Though the announcement does not make official any other fight pairings, it does indicate the participation of several fighters. Joining Emelianenko and Barnett are Gegard Mousasi, Ben Rothwell, Renato "Babalu" Sobral, Tim Sylvia, Mark Hominick, Dan Lauzon, Chris Horodecki, and Paul Buentello.

Mousasi and Belfort are in negotiations to fight each other on the card, but are having difficulty agreeing on what weight to fight at. Mousasi has publicly stated that he can no longer make the weight cut to 185 pounds, while Belfort is reluctant to move up from the class he has recently declared his new home.

While confirmation is still forthcoming, it has been widely speculated that Sylvia will face Buentello on Aug. 1 and Lauzon will hook up with Horodecki.