In the above video, Jorge Santiago describes his preparation for his scheduled August 1 fight against Vitor Belfort at Affliction Trilogy, and as you can hear, he's training hard and preparing diligently for what may be the biggest moment of his MMA career.
Except that it might not happen.
No, the chain reaction of events that started with Josh Barnett's failed drug test now could see Belfort being pulled from that fight with Santiago -- a fight that I think is the best on the Affliction Trilogy undercard -- to the main event, against Fedor Emelianenko.
And that's incredibly unfair to Santiago. The fight with Belfort is a huge one for him, one that could, if he wins, establish him as one of the five best middleweights in the world, and the best middleweight outside the UFC. Now he's staring at the possibility of either being pulled from the Trilogy card completely, or matched up at the last minute against an opponent he gains nothing by beating.Barnett left Affliction without any good options for its main event, but the more I think about it, the less I like the idea of Belfort fighting Fedor. It's not just that I wouldn't give Belfort much of a chance against Fedor, because honestly, there's no one Affliction could sign who I'd give much of a chance against Fedor. It's also that I think it deprives fans of the best fight on the Affliction undercard, and it puts Santiago in a terrible position.Affliction needs to do better than that.
