Andrei Arlovski: A Tamed Pitbull
Posted by Dave Walsh on June 11th, 2009
I won’t lie and I’ll come out and say it; Andrei Arlovski has been one of my absolute favorite fighters for years now. Part of what made him special was his showmanship on top of his raw power and ability. Not only was there a guy with an incredibly solid build who is fast on his feet in a world of Paul Buentello’s and Ricco Rodriguez’s knocking people out with his heavy and fast hands, but he had crazy hair, a beard and fangs. His interviews were awesome, stuff like “I have a strong arm, can smash” and so on. Andrei Arlovski was a rabid wolf among wild boar and made a name for himself as Heavyweight Champion in the United States when there were no heavyweights to look up to.
It is 2009 now and things have changed. Andrei seems to be done with his mighty Affliction deal involving upwards of 7 figures for him to step into the ring (if you think most guys were locked into three fights, he had two Affliction bouts and an EliteXC paid-for-by-Affliction fight) and seems to be testing the waters with Strikeforce. The only problem is, after an impressive post-Tim Sylvia win streak, he has two losses in a row. One to easily the best Heavyweight in the history of the sport after a great effort, Fedor, the other to, well, Brett Rogers.
I am not attempting to take anything away from Rogers, because Rogers did as he probably planned to and he won. The thing is, Rogers has never shown anything other than his ability to smash somebody in the face with his fists, which is exactly what he did to Andrei. It is hard to say if Rogers is actually a good fighter or not because we don’t know what he looks like in later rounds and we don’t know what he looks like against a top fighter who is ready to fight. Andrei was not ready to fight.
Andrei not being ready to fight is not Rogers fault, it is clearly Andrei’s, and it has cost him a lot. His boxing debut which was weeks away has been postponed due to his medical suspension for being knocked out, and it isn’t clear what or who he could fight in MMA at this point. The heavyweight scene outside of the UFC right now is very grim, while UFC’s is rather bright. Outside of the UFC he did everything he could possibly do, which was fight 3 emerging challengers in Rothwell, Nelson and Rogers, and fighting the best in the world. The only fights he really has left are a rematch with Rogers and a match with Barnett.
I want to see the Pitbull of old, I want to see Andrei have another run at the top, but I’m just not sure he has it in him anymore.
June 11th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
I’ve always liked the guy too. But yeah, Andrei has never had a great chin and he’s always had fights where he just didn’t show up.
A Barnett fight might be interesting, and unless Fedor has a serious breakdown of some sort, it actually seems likely down the road if AA doesn’t retire first. (I wouldn’t mind that either. He’s been knocked senseless quite a few times now)
Also, I believe the “I have a strong arm, can smash” interview turned out to be fake
June 11th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
Regardless I’ve always equated it to AA and will continue to, ha
June 16th, 2009 at 10:50 pm
I think he is done as well. Frankly, he was saved by the ref in the Nelson fight so his ground game is suspect at best. And now, with a proven glass chin, there isn’t anywhere he can go to avoid punishment.
June 16th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
That is really hard to argue about the Nelson fight. That stand up sucked.
The only thing I agree with Arlovski on is that yeah, if he isn’t protecting his head and is sticking his face right out there, being knocked out is going to happen. His chin isn’t *that* bad, as he has proven when he is on his game and defending he can take some decent shots to the head without going down like a sack of turnips.