A week of misfortune turned to disaster for Affliction Entertainment on Friday, as the promotion canceled Affliction “Trilogy,” which had been scheduled for Aug. 1 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.

SI.com reported the news Friday morning, and Sherdog.com has confirmed it.

The cancellation -- which could spell the end of Affliction's year-long run as a mixed martial arts promotion -- comes on the heels of heavyweight Josh Barnett's failed drug test, which forced him out of the “Trilogy” main event against Fedor Emelianenko on Wednesday. Barnett, 32, tested positive for a banned anabolic steroid and was denied licensure by the California State Athletic Commission.

Promoters scrambled to find a replacement opponent for Emelianenko and reportedly considered middleweight Vitor Belfort, light heavyweight prospect Muhammed Lawal and heavyweights Brett Rogers, Paul Buentello, Jeff Monson and Bobby Lashley.

The Aug. 1 "Affliction: Trilogy" event, which lost its main event earlier this week when headliner Josh Barnett was denied a licensed due to a failed drug test, has been canceled.

News of the cancellation was first reported by veteran MMA journalist Josh Gross of SI.com.

Affliction Entertainment officials were not immediately available for comment when contacted by MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com), but a source close to the event confirmed the decision has been made to scrap the show altogether.

According to the SI.com report, event organizers have begun contacting the event's fighters to inform them of the cancellation. The event, which was expected to feature a main event between Barnett and famed Russian heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko, was slated to take place at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., and air on pay-per-view and HDNet.

Other notables such as Renato "Babalu" Sobral, Jorge Santiago, Gegard Mousasi, Paul Buentello and Jay Hieron were also slated to compete on the card.

Stay tuned to MMAjunkie.com for continued coverage of this story.

What a bunch of bullshit.

I just hope this cancelation frees Fedor from the remaining fight on his contract.

this sucks !

http://mmajunkie.com/news/15622/officia ... reason.mma

Just a few hours after news broke of the event's cancellation, Affliction Entertainment executives have officially confirmed "Affliction: Trilogy" has been scrapped.

According to Affliction Vice President Tom Atencio, the show was scrapped because of the loss of headliner Josh Barnett, who failed a drug test administered by the California State Athletic Commission and was denied a license to fight Fedor Emelianenko on Aug. 1.

Atencio said that, despite the number of fighters willing to fill in for Barnett, the one-year-old promotion couldn't promote a main event "to our standards," but the company is committed to promoting future shows.

"Finding an opponent for the No. 1 ranked MMA heavyweight champion in such a short period of time was a huge endeavor, and I'm thrilled at the amount of fighters willing to take on this challenge," Atencio stated. "But in the end, we just didn't have enough time to promote a new fight to our standards."

Brett Rogers, Jeff Monson, Vitor Belfort, Don Frye, "King" Mo Lawal and Paul Buentello were among the fighters who openly campaigned for the slot on the pay-per-view card. However, none would have the drawing power of Barnett, and a source close to Showtime PPV, which is Affliction's pay-per-view partner, told MMAjunkie.com www.mmajunkie.com) it's a major reason the show was canceled.

Executives from the show's co-promoter, M-1 Global, are flying into Anaheim, Calif., today. An additional announcement from the Russian-based promotion could be made later today that could give information about Emelianenko's next fight. It's possible, of course, some of the "Trilogy" fighters could be shifted to M-1's Aug. 28 card, which takes place in Los Angeles as the first event of the company's newly launched "premium fight series."

Meanwhile, fans who purchased tickets for "Trilogy," which was set to take place at the Honda Center in Anaheim, are told to contact Ticketmaster for refunds.

For those thinking (and even hoping) that the cancellation would signal the demise of Affliction, today's announcement seems to hint otherwise.

"Affliction is deeply disappointed that the undercard is also canceled through no fault of its own," the release stated. "Affliction stands behind the company's brands and delivers premium products to the most passionate and loyal customers. Affliction's first priority is to ensure that all future events live up to the company's high standards."

that`s sad

No, they're done. Affliction are done promoting fight cards, and are now a sponser for the UFC.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news;_ylt=A ... &type=lgns