Monson Possible Replacement for Barnett Versus Fedor Emelianenko

Fighters.com Heavyweight Champion “Last Emperor” Fedor Emelianenko (29-1) could possibly fight “Snowman” Jeff Monson (27-8) instead of ninth-ranked “Babyface Assassin” Josh Barnett (20-5) at Affliction M-1 Global’s Trilogy in Anaheim 1 August.

“We are working on it now,” a source inside “The Snowman’s” camp told Fighters.com Wednesday afternoon. Monson is excited about the possibility, Fighters.com’s source said.

Barnett has been denied a license to fight by the California State Athletic Commission after testing positive for “performance-enhancing substance,” according to Affliction Veep Tom Atencio in Sports Illustrated Wednesday morning.

Xtreme Couture middleweight “Phenom” Vitor Belfort‘s (17-8) camp has told several sources the one-time UFC heavyweight champion is willing to return to heavyweight to replace Barnett. He’s already scheduled to fight American Top Team’s Sengoku middleweight champion Jorge Santiago (21-7) at Trilogy. Belfort’s trainer, Shawn Tompkins, told Sports Illustrated making that fight would come down to money.

In response to a text message, management for heavyweight “Headhunter” Paul Buentello (27-9), also already on the card, replied to Fighters.com Wednesday afternoon, “Nothing yet.”

Also rumored, pro-wrestling convert “Dominator” Bobby Lashley (3-0) told Sherdog, “I don’t know if I would want [to fight Emelianenko] right now.”

In response to replacing injured Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion “Demolition Man” Alistair Overeem (27-10) versus “Vai Cavalo” Fabricio Werdum (11-4-1) in San Jose 15 August, manager of fifth-ranked “Grim” Brett Rogers (8-0), Mike Reilly, told Fighters.com Tuesday that Rogers was training for an October fight and wasn’t interested. Fighters.com doubts the rising talent would want to take a fight versus the world’s best over 205 pounds on 10-days notice.