Affliction is currently considering four fighters as potential replacement opponents for Fedor Emelianenko at next weekend’s Affliction show: Bobby Lashley, Brett Rogers, Vitor Belfort and Ricardo Arona.
Lashley’s manager has already stated that he will not consider the bout, which would seem to indicate that he’s out. The front-runner at this point is Vitor Belfort, who has already agreed to the fight and seems excited about the opportunity it provides.
UPDATE: Brett Rogers is the top choice for the bout. Belfort has agreed to the bout, but they want Rogers. Lashley was actually far and away the first choice, and they even offered him $500,000 for the fight but he turned it down. Affliction is considering raising their offer to Lashley to see if he’ll bite.
There is a press conference scheduled for 3:30pm ET to announce the replacement, so I expect something to be done shortly.
