From November 22, 2002 to April 15, 2006 former UFC Heavyweight Champion Andrei Arlovski made history by becoming one of the most upsetting fighters in UFC.
During that time he defeated notable favorites Ian Freeman, Vladimir Matyushenko, Wesley Correira, Tim Sylvia, Justin Eilers, and Paul Buentello with devastating hand speed, boxing technique, and sixth-sense submission skills on par to no one in UFC at the time.
He was an underdog, a passionate, Belarusian champion the crowd had to learn to respect. He was the first UFC Heavyweight champ to be booed after knocking out his opponent, Buentello, 15 seconds into the fight.
Across the Pacific Ocean in Japan's UFC equivalent, Pride Fighting Championships, a fellow citizen of the Eastern Bloc created a tsunami, taking nearly twice as many fights as Arlovski in the same period of time and building a similarly skeptical reputation as an MMA contendor.
Unlike Arlovski, he hushed his critics with round-the-clock victories stemming from a will tempered by hunger. He gained the moniker "the Last Emperor," but he should be known as the First Emperor for delivering such an impeccable record with astounding fights.
Also, unlike Arlovski, the fans grew to love him indiscriminately.
His younger brother Aleksander commented in an April 7th interview that "[he and Fedor] already beat everyone in Japan, even though no one bet on [them]." Despite his string of victories and consistent underdog status in his early days of Pride contention, no one booed Fedor for his accomplishments.
The "Last Emperor" Fedor Emelianenko and Andre "the Pitbull" Arlovski should have fought years ago, long before Fedor's complicit stand-off alongside M-1 Global in the developing Cold War with UFC, and certainly long before Arlovski took a manic turn for the worst by losing sight of what makes him one of the top ten fighters in the world.
However, Affliction's Day of Reckoning will bring the MMA fighters together on January 24th for a fight that puts nothing but pressure on Arlovski's shoulders.
Suprisingly, few have lent an ear to this fight with few, if any, win predictions or pre-fight analysis. Maybe it was overshadowed by the Lesnar-Couture Championship bout? The hype surrounding that match turned heads at ESPN, so it certainly is a factor.
Perhaps Affliction-Golden Boy hasn't been marketing the bout as aggressively as they should be?
With De laHoya, the face of Golden Boy entertainment, gearing up for his anomalous boxing match against Manny Pacquiao, Emelianenko shooting a film in Thailand, and Donald Trump working on his comb-over and future catch phrases, it's possible the bout got lost in the melee of the UFC-Affliction/M-1 promotion war that's ensued.
Or maybe everyone has counted Arlovski out.
It makes sense doesn't it?
His golden days in the UFC were quickly followed by gloomy performances: spectators wanted the electric, passionate Arlovski and had no compassion to spare after his twin losses to Tim Sylvia. Despite his overwhelming talent, Arlovski was released from his contract with UFC.
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