Report: Aleksander Emelianenko vs. Josh Barnett in April
Aleksander Emelianenko announced via his official website that he will be fighting on the M-1 Gobal show in Chicago on April 11th. He said that he expects that his opponent could very well be currently unsigned heavyweight free agent Josh Barnett.
This could be a big move for M-1, gobbling up some more of the UFC’s talent pool from which to draw fighters. While it never sounded like Barnett and the UFC were interested in coming to terms with one another and burying the hatchet from years past, it still leaves them without the option of signing Barnett. With the UFC’s heavyweight division in serious need of an infusion of talent, taking a heavyweight like Josh Barnett off the market is a pretty big deal.
Not to mention that if Josh Barnett has signed a deal with M-1, fans would possibly get a matchup that they’ve asked for many times before. If we can’t have Couture vs. Fedor right now then we’ll take Josh Barnett vs. Fedor as a consolation prize until Randy is done with whatever the hell he’s doing.
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I’m a little interested in seeing a match-up between Barnett and Aleks.
I like Aleks fighting style, but Most of aleks losses have come from submissions if I am correct.
Lets hope for a good fight if it happens.
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Dude,
This is brutal. How can they throw Barnett at Aleks and give Fedor Semmy? Like really, this is pathetic. Do the Fedor vs Barnett and I might buy the show.
I think it’s a really bad decision, what happens if Fedor smokes Semmy and Aleks beats Barnett cause of ring rust? Then Fedor’s next big fight is a wash. Who are they going to get? Jeff Monson? Pedro? Might as well put Barnett with him, at least it could look like a big fight, give Fedor bad some stree cred with the fans. If he fights back to back cans, they’re not showing me anything I don’t know.
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Looks like trying to put some more drama if Barnett beats Aleks. Then Fedor will avenge his brother!!!
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Adam:
What’s the word on Aleks being able to fight in the states with his criminal record?
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Aleksander is a Russian Mobster. But his ring entry music is dope. Some strange gothic shit…
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whatever the hell Randy’s doing? at least he’s not fighting sideshow attractions & fighters 2 weight classes below him.
when he beats Fedor he’s going to come out smelling like a rose for holding out.
would you rather he risk another injury in a menaingless title match against sub-par UFC HW talent?
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The fact that everyone is looking past these fights to talk about Fedor Vs Josh instantly proves what a BS matchup this is.
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I have no interest in Aleks/Barnett.
Barnett subbed him a little less than two years ago in Pride and Werdum of all people subbed him, what, a year ago?
What would make anyone think that Aleks’ sub defense has improved enough in that time that Barnett won’t take it the ground again and end it via submission?
Aoki/JZ makes me wet my pants, though.
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I had a strong feeling that Barnett would sign with M1.
A lot is changing in the MMA world especially in the past year and a half.
I wish I can look into the crystal ball and look a couple more years into the future when it is time for the UFC to re-sign the worlds top talent back. With Tito, Randy, Barnett gone from the UFC what will happen to Rampage, Liddell, Silva, Henderson,
and the rest of the top talent when their contracts expire? It just seems like the whole landscape is changing and the signing process will in my opinion evolve to the fighters favor.
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So Barnett and Fedor will fight each other, then beat more cans in M-1, never fighting any other legitimate competition. This will ensure that Fedor stays at #1 forever. CroCop should’ve signed with M-1 instead, thus ensuring his #2 ranking in perpetuity.
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Oh get over it cyphron. Why not just let the dust settle a bit and see what happens rather than having a whinge at the end of every month when Fedor hasn’t fought someone.
With a possible Randy fight coming up in the next year it wouldn’t be a wise move by M1 to stick Fedor in with someone as talented as Josh. Randy v Fedor is probably the biggest fight out there at the moment and if Fedor lost (very possible) the Randy fight would lose a lot of it’s appeal. And let’s not forget this is basically all M1 have at the moment, so don’t expect any huge match ups until randy fedor is over or when it’s been called off completely.
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Aleks is 3-0 in 2007. M-1 wants to give him a chance to beat Barnett. The upside for M-1 is that if he is beaten, they’ll create more drama for Fedor vs. Barnett. To be honest, I think Aleks actually has a better chance this time. I still give Barnett the edge due to his better ground game obviously.
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The last fight was fun, Alex busted Barnett up standing pretty good till he got taken down and got submitted.
This time hopefully Barnett will take it straight to the ground and not risk it, Alex does have snappy and dangerous stand up.
Both Fedor and Barnett need warmup fights before fighting each other anyways.
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Man it will be pretty shit if Aleksander wins this. Fedor isn’t going to fight his brother and it doesn’t look like he will fight Randy anytime soon. Then again, if Aleksander does beat Barnett, a losing barnett is still 100 times better than an undefeated Hong Man Choi.
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Randy, Randy, Randy…… What I don’t get in this whole fiasco, is Randy quit in what Octoboer? He was under medical suspension for the broken arm. Fine, if he would have fought the December show vs Nog and then a March show vs Sylvia/Kongo/Someothercan then he would have been clear of his UFC contract by March making him clear to have a tune-up fight with M-1 then a Fedor fight by like September, now it’s going to be be end of this year before this fight *may* happen. It would have gone alot further to establish himself as #1 HW in all the rankings based on activity and quality of opponent. Then, if he still wanted to fight for M-1, he could have had Barnett, Aleks and whoever else they sign as free agents.
I just think whoever is “Worm-tonguing” in Randy’s ear is gibing that dude some bad advice.
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Fair point Gabber. I think it would have taken a little longer for him to recover between fights though and I also think Randy may feel the Fedor fight may not only be the only fight worth taking but also the only fight he has left.
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It made no sense why Randy didn’t fight out his contract…but it makes perfect sense from Randy’s perspective.
There is a big risk in his fighting Nogueira as that is a horrible match up for him. Nogueira is a great boxer, but more importantly, he is terrific in the clinch. Randy’s stock was at an all time high. He doesn’t want to damage that by fighting Nogueira and possibly a rematch with Tim Sylvia (wow, nice lucky punch and then it was 5 rounds of a nice fluffy Randy blanket), and potentially losing in either. Protect your reputation when you’re at an all time high. Considering that Randy and Fedor planned their eventual match up from the beginning, we can see where Randy got his advice from. I’m sure Fedor is not afraid to fight any one. However, his management is pulling the strings.
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barnett aleks should be great. Aleks is gonna train cause he lost on cardio last time he totally outboxed barnett. if he could have kept the pace barnett would not have been able to sub him quite so easily and he would have eventually dropped barnett if he could keep it standing , or if barnett was leaving himself open for the takedown attempt.
cardio and takedown defense is what aleks bloody well work hard on.
still after heavy hunt giving fedor trouble on the ground (somewhat bothersome anyway ha ha) i have to wonder what barnett could do against fedor – although fedor would not be worrying about hunt’s sledghammers so barnett would have to work harder in a way to get cyborg to the mat.
schilt never had a chance against fedor – but still fedor didnt finish him.
although he did do a little amatuer plastic surgery. schilt may more well rounded now .. we shalll see!
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