Well, that sucks for Affliction.

With the Affliction: Trilogy pay-per-view on Aug. 1 just around the corner, Josh Barnett, who is challenging World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko in the main event, has been removed from the card after he failed a drug test.

Here’s an excerpt from the Yahoo! Sports article.

Barnett said he wanted to keep quiet as he prepares an appeal, and had nothing negative to say about the testing procedure.

“It’s not a big conspiracy,” said Barnett, who had a previous positive banned substance test result on his record.

Atencio said the show will go on as scheduled, and that Emelianenko has agreed to face any potential opponent. Yahoo! Sports has been able to confirm the company has had talks over the past day with Brett Rogers, Vitor Belfort and Bobby Lashley.

MMAJunkie.com is reporting that Vitor has verbally committed to fighting Fedor, though negotiations are still ongoing.

Now, I’m a big fan of Vitor, even though The Phenom never really lived up to the huge expectations that resulted from his success as a young prodigy in the early days of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Still, as a middleweight, he’ll be a huge underdog against the heavyweight champ, apart of course from Fedor being widely considered the best mixed martial arts fighter in the world.

Let’s see if this match will push through, and if it does, I’ll be rooting for Vitor, against all odds.