What if Arlovski wins?
Posted by Alan Conceicao on January 22nd, 2009
Perhaps never in the history of MMA has such a long awaited and yet still vital bout come with such little discussion. Reading the diatribes on the internet, one would think that Andrei Arlovski is merely another mediocre lamb led to slaughter. Some have actually argued he is a “UFC reject” who doesn’t belong at the top of the sport. Its a stunning statement about the man once considered the UFC’s most untouchable heavyweight during the pre-Spike era, particularly given his recent performances.
The arguments against Arlovski’s winning are generally the same as we’ve heard regarding every other heavyweight in the recent era: Fedor hits hard, he outstrikes people that are believed to be better strikers, and he is superior on the ground. No one denies any of these aspects. However, none of this refutes the fact that Arlovski still offers an incredibly stiff challenge to Fedor. His handspeed is excellent, his ability to counterpunch fantastic, and his leg locks are fairly impressive. So what happens if the “unthinkable” occurs? The linear aspect is without question for those who believe in it. Arlovski will be considered by many to be the “true champion” of the heavyweight division, vis-a-vis defeating the top dog. Others will certainly argue that in beating Fedor, he will have “exposed” the long time champion and will probably demand the ascension of a UFC talent to the top rung.
What makes it so difficult to discuss Arlovski in a sensible fashion (even before theoretically winning the WAMMA title) is the jumbled nature of the UFC heavyweight division. Noguiera and Couture entered 2008 clearly ahead of Arlovski, but losses to men well below Andrei leave them all in a sort of limbo. Should a fighter ranked well outside the top 10 by most be able to shove his way through after beating an generally inactive (a near year between fights) interim belt holder?
The unsaid item is that unlike Noguiera, Arlovski beat the opposition he was supposed to. Noguiera’s win over Tim Sylvia is certainly significantly more impressive than anyone Arlovski beat in 2008, but he was, for a number of reasons, never allowed to face anyone of that upper echelon. The problem with getting such a fight begins back at Zuffa. Arlovski’s decision to leave the company did not come as a result of being a “washout” as he is sometimes referred to, but because like BJ Penn, Jens Pulver, Murilo Bustamante, and others before him had, he departed for greener pastures. To penalize him on this basis is not to penalize him on his inability to win, but rather because of a preference in promoters. Its a breakdown of MMA as sport and a forced dictation of MMA as “entertainment”.
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Affliction is, depending on who you ask, doomed no matter who wins. They’ve spent themselves into a deep hole and simply don’t have the tools or knowledge to drag themselves out. Arlovski certainly wouldn’t help their future by winning, as he is no more marketable than Fedor, and additionally lacks the record that gives Emelienenko such respect. Fedor himself is a more interesting discussion piece than his promoter. Losses by “PRIDE fighters” are generally exclaimed to be examples of the company’s styling over substance and openness to use of performance enhancing drugs, and while Fedor has tasted success against a two time UFC heavyweight champion, it would be ignored and overrun by questions about steroid abuse. It would be fatal to his chances of any sort of breakthrough success in this country, and probably lead to a lot of borderline bitter video blogs from Dana White. It likely wouldn’t lead to any sort of substantative discussion of just how good the UFC’s talent ever was.
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:52 pm
EXCELLENT article. You are right on the money. It is so frustrating for me as a fan of the sport to hear morons engage in “which promotion is best” arguments (as if the promotions conduct the day-to-day training of their fighters)instead of truly wanting to see great fights between great fighters….regardless of where the fight takes place or which promotion hosts the event.
January 23rd, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Completely. Jon has a good article up on 5oz about it right now;
http://fiveouncesofpain.com/2009/01/23/snowden-worrying-about-dollars-makes-no-sense/