Sports Illustrated was able to catch up with Fedor Emelianenko and get some comments on him in regards to when he thinks he’ll be able to step back into the ring as well as his future fight plans:

“I think definitely by New Year’s Eve I’ll be ready to go,” the 31-year-old Russian told SI.com Sunday.

“My desire at this point is to meet with the winner of the fight,” said Emelianenko, the only current WAMMA champ. “But I still have a desire to fight with whomever loses as well.

But it doesn’t look like Fedor’s return to the ring will come against the winner of the aforementioned fight between Andrei Arlovski and Josh Barnett. It looks like it will come against an opponent to be determined on a New Year’s Eve show in Japan and that opponent doesn’t look to be Mirko Cro Cop:

Early speculation centered on a rematch of Emelianenko’s tremendous points win in 2005 over Mirko Filipovic. However, a representative for the No. 1-ranked heavyweight said it’s doubtful the fight would take place at this time. In a bout intended for Japanese fight fans, Emelianenko will likely meet a “judo legend or sumo wrestler.”

It would appear that Fedor will fight in another freakshow fight before he steps back into the ring against a legitimate opponent. “Judo legend or sumo wrestler” does not sound like a true challenge for the heavyweight king and is most likely a match that will be put together to appease the Japanese fans on New Year’s Eve. Let’s just hope that after he mauls whatever giant or washed up judoka they put in there with him that he gets back to fighting the top caliber heavyweights in Affliction.

The World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts issued a press release on Thursday announcing that the heavyweight main event between Josh Barnett and Andrei Arlovski that is scheduled for Affliction’s “Day of Reckoning” pay-per-view on Oct. 11 will determine the number one contender to the WAMMA heavyweight title currently held by Fedor Emelianenko.

“We couldn’t be more excited to see Andrei Arlovski and Josh Barnett faceoff for the right to take on Fedor for the WAMMA World Heavyweight Championship,” WAMMA CEO Dave Szady is quoted as saying in company-issued a press release. “In the spirit of crowning undisputed champions, we couldn’t be happier than to have two of the fighters who arguably deserve a shot at Fedor fighting it out for the chance to take on the champ.”

Both fighters competed at Affliction’s first-ever event on July 19 and both were victorious, with Barnett recording a second round knockout over Pedro Rizzo and Arlovski knocking out Ben Rothwell in the third round.

In other Affliction-related news, MMAjunkie.com was on hand to cover the promotion’s press conference in Las Vegas on Wednesday. Junkie is reporting that HDNet will broadcast a one-hour pre-show for the Oct. 11 event that will include several undercard matches being televised.

In addition to fights between Barnett vs. Arlovski, Vladimir Matyushenko vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, and Vitor Belfort vs. Matt Lindland having been confirmed, Junkie is reporting that undercard bouts between Roy Nelson vs. Paul Buentello and Mike Pyle vs. Jason High were also announced.

Finally, Junkie is also reporting that there is concern whether the Belfort vs. Lindland fight will take place, as Belfort is still not fully recovered from a hand injury suffered during his win over Terry Martin during Affliction’s first event.

Affliction has officially announced that top ten heavyweights Andrei Arlovski and Josh Barnett are set to face off against one another at Affliction’s October 11 event entitled “Day of Reckoning.” The event will take place in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Thomas & Mack Center on the campus of UNLV.

FiveOuncesOfPain.com was the first to break this story on Friday night, revealing that a tentative bout between Arlovksi and WAMMA heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko was likely to be scrapped due to a hand injury sustained by Fedor. We were also the first site to report the replacement main event featuring Arlovski vs. Barnett.

Arlovski is coming off an impressive TKO victory over Ben Rothwell at Affliction: “Banned,” while Barnett recorded a TKO victory over on the same show. Affliction is staying true to its plan to have the best heavyweights in the world go head to head with one another and this bout will be no different.

Tickets for the event go on sale Wednesday at 10 a.m.

FiveOuncesOfPain.com learned late Friday that a proposed main event for Affliction’s second-ever show on Oct. 11 between WAMMA heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko and Andrei Arlovski appears to be off for the time being.

A reliable source speaking on the condition of anonyomity revealed to Five Ounces of Pain that Emelianenko has been dealing with a lingering hand injury that will make it virtually impossible for him to be ready in time for Affliction’s October show at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.

Arlovski is expected to remain on the card and event organizers are said to be looking into finalizing a bout between Arlovski and Josh Barnett to serve as the show’s new main event.

The two former UFC heavyweight champions both competed and were victorious on Affliction’s first show last month. Barnett knocked out Pedro Rizzo at 1:44 of round 2 while Arlovski knocked out Ben Rothwell at 3:13 of round 3.

So far, no bouts have been officially announced for the Oct. 11 card by Affliction. However, rumors indicate that bouts featuring Matt Lindland vs. Vitor Belfort and Tito Ortiz vs. Renato “Babalu” Sobral could be in the works.

Sherdog.com has the news again with sources having notified them that Brazilian, Luis Arthur Cane will take on  Jason Lambert at London’s UFC 85 on June 7th.

Cane (7-1) made his UFC debut at UFC 79: Nemesis where he was disqualified after kneeing James Irvin to the head whilst Irvin was on the ground. After the fight Cane was none too happy about Irvin’s decision not to continue.

Jason Lambert (23-7) was coming off the biggest win of his career over Renato Sobral until he met the knockout power of Wilson Gouveia at UFC 80. Lambert is a healthy 4-2 in the Octagon and will look to regain the lost ground suffered in his knockout loss to Gouveia.

UFC 85 will be held at London’s 02 Arena on June 7th and will be headlined by a light-heavyweight clash between former UFC light-heavyweight champion, Chuck Liddell and winner of the 2nd season of the Ultimate Fighter, Rashad Evans.

Read more UFC 85 content on FiveOuncesOfPain.com.

Promising lightheavyweights, Jason Lambert and Wilson Gouveia are set to meet at UFC 80 confirms UFC.com.

This bout was originally set for UFC 76 back in September, but a severe nose breakage suffered by Gouveia in training meant the matchup had to be scrapped.

The two fighters are coming off impressive performances of late with Lambert having knocked out Renato Sobral at UFC 68 while the Brazillian Gouveia is coming of three straight UFC wins after dropping his debut to Keith Jardine at the Ultimate Fighter 3 finale.

In the same report, UFC.com also confirms a few other fights for UFC 80: Rapid Fire which is headlined by a battle for the Interim Lightweight title featuring B.J. Penn and Joe Stevenson. These matchups along with other rumoured bouts for the card are stated below:

• B.J. Penn vs. Joe Stevenson (for Interim Lightweight Championship)
• Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Fabricio Werdum
• Jason Lambert vs. Wilson Gouveia
• Kendall Grove vs. Jorge Rivera*
• Marcus Davis vs. Jess Liaudin*

• Paul Taylor vs. Paul Kelly
• Alessio Sakara vs. James Lee
• Sam Stout vs. Per Eklund
• Antoni Hardonk vs. Colin Robinson*

* indicates bouts not confirmed by UFC.com

With the rumoured and confirmed bouts, it appears that UFC 80 is now a full card. Shapes up to be a pretty decent looking one too.

Read more on FiveOuncesOfPain.com

MMAWeekly.com is reporting that Jason Lambert vs. Wilson Gouveia has been signed for UFC 76 on September 22 in Anaheim, Calif. Matches between Diego Sanchez vs. Jon Fitch and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Lyoto Machida are also scheduled for the card.