Who wants to see Fedor vs. Josh Barnett now?

Do you still want to see Fedor Emelianenko fight Josh Barnett? There are rumours of setting up the bout in the DREAM promotion in Japan early next year (possibly February). Personally, I think its time has passed. The luster is off the diamond, the bloom is off the rose. I was psyched to see the two top-ranked heavyweights in the world battle it out back in August, before bad drug tests and bad business sense caused Affliction to collapse.

Now, Fedor has just made his Strikeforce debut and should stick around to fight in that promotion. Yes, Strikeforce has a co-promotion deal with DREAM, but Fedor fighting anywhere else is a huge mistake. It’s time to capitalize on the biggest event in Strikeforce’s history, one that saw Fedor knock out challenger Brett Rogers, and to maintain and build upon that momentum Fedor needs to fight as soon as his hand heals (four- to-six weeks, by his estimate). Why waste that mainstream media exposure by having their biggest asset go off to Japan to fight? That makes no sense. Then again, neither does letting Alistair Overeem sit on his heavyweight belt while he goes off the fight in other promotions.