MMA News
Williams' MMA News Blog: (UPDATE) Fedor Fights 3?: Arlovski, Cro Cop, Barnett
By By: Alex Williams, MMATorch Contributor
Jul 24, 2008 - 12:03:04 AM

DreamFighters.com reports that Fedor Emelianenko stated his next fight will come against Andrei Arlovski at an Affliction event. Emelianenko purportedly commented that the bout is scheduled for November, but he would like for it to be moved to October so that he could have more time between that match and a December 31 fight in Japan for the Dreams promotion. According to DreamFighters, Emelianenko anticipated the December 31 bout will be against Mirko Cro Cop. He also said that he plans to fight Josh Barnett in March 2009.

That's a murderer's row of opponents. If Emelianenko goes 3-0 against such quality competition within the span of six months, it might make up for his lackluster fight schedule between August 2005 (his first match with Cro Cop) and his bout last weekend with Tim Sylvia. During that spell, Emelianenko's only Top 10 heavyweight opponent was Mark Hunt, who he battled in December 2006. But he has looked so dominant when he has faced top quality opposition (including in two one-sided victories over current UFC "interim" heavyweight champ "Minotauro" Nogueira) that he is universally considered a top, if not the top pound-for-pound fighter (I have him ranked numero uno).

UPDATE: Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports now confirms that Emelianenko vs Arlovski will headline Affliction's second event on October 11 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.

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