Andrei Arlovski: A Retrospective

With his recent loss to Brett Rogers on the Strikeforce: Lawler vs. Shields fight card, it became evident that the career of Andrei Arlovski is winding down to an end.

You could see the anguish and disappointment in “The Pitbull’s” eyes as he sat on the stool in his corner, while being looked over by the doctor’s. Arovski’s eyes welled up and became red as the full weight of the flash KO to Rogers settle over him.

The loss dropped Andrei’s career MMA record to 15-7, and with his trainer Freddie Roach consistently hinting toward a career change to boxing, we may not see Arlovski involved in too many more MMA fights.

Early Career: 1999-2001

Ominously enough, Arlovski’s career began with a knockout loss.

After enjoying success as a Sambo fighter, Arlovski made his professional debut at an M-1 MixFight event in Russia back in 1999. Viacheslav Datsik gave “The Pitbull” his first taste of professional MMA and KO’d the native of Belarus after six minutes of fighting in the first round.

Undeterred, Arlovski returned to the training room and won the M-1 MixFight heavyweight title the following year, winning his first match quickly by submission and his final match by TKO over Roman Zentsov.

Andrei made his UFC debut in late 2000 at UFC 28 where he defeated Aaron Brink via submission in under a minute. Next up for Arlovski was a more formidable opponent in future UFC heavyweight champion Ricco Rodriguez. Arlovski battled hard against the larger heavyweight, but ended up losing via TKO midway through round three.

Rise to Stardom: 2000 - 2005

The loss to Rodriguez knocked Arlovski back a few rungs on the heavyweight ladder and his climb back up was met with some early resistance. Pedro Rizzo was coming off two straight title attempt losses to the reigning UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture, and would be the next opponent for Arlovski.

Once again, Arlovski put up a strong battle, but fighting the heavy-handed Rizzo ended with Andrei being KO’d midway through the third round.

After an eight month layoff, “The Pitbull” began to find his groove and striking power in the UFC, and won three straight fights. Victories over Ian Freeman, Vladimir Matyushenko, and Wesley “Cabbage” Correira set Arlovski up for a shot at the vacant UFC heavyweight title.

At UFC 51, Andrei would meet the fighter would would really come to define his career in Tim Sylvia. Arlovski walked away from UFC 51 as the UFC heavyweight champion after submitting Sylvia via ankle lock.

With an anemically weak UFC heavyweight division at the time, Arlovski appeared to be an unstoppable force. A first-round knockout against Justin Eilers and a 15-second flash knockout against Paul Buentello only further solidified this reputation.

Andrei Arlovski was a bona-fide MMA star and enjoying his success in North America. Unfortunately for Arlovski, the next few years would not be so kind.

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