The UFC has posted the full Countdown show for UFC on Versus 1 to its YouTube channel, and I think the most telling words are the five words that open the show, right after the standard introduction.
Before his positive steroid test caused the fight to be scrapped, Josh Barnett was scheduled to fight Fedor Emelianenko in a heavyweight clash of the titans last summer. Now Barnett is just a week and a half away from a return to MMA after more than a year off -- and he's expected to face a slightly easier opponent than Fedor.
Josh Gross of SI.com reports that Barnett is likely to face Siala "Mighty Mo" Siliga at Dream.13 on March 22. That's a rather embarrassing step down in quality of opposition for Barnett, and a reminder of just how far Barnett has fallen since eight months ago, when he was regarded by many as the No. 2 heavyweight in the world and a real threat to Fedor.
Five days after taking the World Extreme Cagefighting bantamweight championship from Brian Bowles when Bowles failed to answer the bell for the third round, new champion Dominick Cruz expressed surprise that Bowles quit fighting because of a broken hand.
Joey Beltran will make his second trip inside the Octagon when he takes on undefeated Chad Corvin at UFC 113 on May 8 in Montreal, the UFC confirmed Thursday.
Beltran (11-3) made his UFC debut at UFC 109 stepping in on a week's notice and stopping Rolles Gracie in the second round. He entered the fight coming off a TKO win against Houston Alexander.
