Affliction is supposedly considering a bout between "The Babyface Assassin" Josh Barnett and undefeated former EliteXC heavyweight Brett "The Grim" Rogers, according to various MMA blogs today. The fight would take place on the Affliction: Day of Reckoning card in January, headlined by Fedor Emelianenko vs. Andrei Arlovski. There were rumours that Josh Barnett was unwilling to fight Andrei Arlovski in the months following Affliction's first MMA show. A bout between the two was tentatively scheduled between the two for Day but nothing ever came to fruition. In the meantime several Afflictoin fighters were asked to take pay-cuts and Barnett was outspoken against doing so. When Arlovski was upgraded to be Emelianenko's opponent in the main event, Barnett had no opponent, and opted to accept a fight in Japan for World Victory Road around New Year's. Now it seems Barnett (23-5) will have to cancel those travel plans to remain stateside for a fight with Rogers. Barnett's last fight was a third round TKO victory over Pedro "The Rock" Rizzo at Affliction: Banned. Rogers (8-0) turned heads in early 2008 when he fought James "The Colossus" Thompson at EliteXC: Street Certified. After clinching and tangling up against the cage for the first two minutes of the bout, Rogers exploded on Thompson with a fast and powerful punch combination that sent "Colossus" to dreamland. Three months later Thompson faced Kevin (Kimbo Slice) Ferguson at EliteXC: Primetime and lasted almost eleven minutes before getting knocked out again. At that same show Rogers fought Jon Murphy, cleaning his clock in a minute. Rogers called out Slice following the event and the two had a war of words that lasted until the demise of EliteXC this fall. Rogers has won all of his fights by knockout except a bout against Ralph Kelly in which Kelly submitted due to strikes. A win for Barnett would lead him into a WAMMA title match with either Emelinaneko or Arlovski, neither of whom he has faced before. A win for Rogers would vault him into the heavyweight rankings and could lead to a fight with the aformentioned champions or a contract with the UFC.
not sure why barnett would want to do this fight. he's in line for a title shot and if he slipped up vs Rogers it'd ruin it. If he beats him..well he bloody well should beat him rather easily.
This is a great fight for Rogers to take, he has nothing to lose at all, and everything to gain. I think he has the striking ability to take out Barnett, and is a big time fighter. I would love to see this fight for Rogers.
