Andrei Arlovski on Travis Browne: I don't want to fight him, but I have to
Former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski never shys away from fights, but he has to admit that he isn't looking forward to his next one. At May 187, "The Pitbull" will take on a man he knows very well, Travis Browne.
According to a recent interview with Submission Radio (full interview below), Arlovski doesn't relish the thought of trading punches with Browne, as he considers the former teammate a friend. "Absolutely right, he's my friend," he said.
"I don't like this fight. I don't want to fight him, but it is what it is. If I want to move forward, I just have to fight Travis Browne...We were teammates for a long time, and deep inside I don't like this fight."
In fact, Arlovski revealed that he used to live in Browne's house, in Albuquerque, while training for fights at Team Jackson/Winkeljohn. Arlovski is coming off a KO win over Antonio Silva, and Browne a stoppage over Brendan Schaub.
The Belarusian went on to say that he and his friend have not really talked about the fact that they are set to try and hurt one another, since their matchup was signed and announced. "No. No, he just left before his last fight," he explained.
"He left Albuquerque and he trains in California. It's funny because he let me life in his house when I was in camp before my 'Bigfoot' fight, and he called and he said - 'yeah, I moved out. You better take your stuff out.' And yeah, I asked my friend, another friend from Albuquerque, to go to his house and take all my stuff and that's it. We just called each other, texted each other a couple of times and so far, that's it. "
Though Arlovski admits that he doesn't want to fight Browne, he understands that he will need to in order to continue to climb back up the heavyweight top-ten ranks. "Yeah, he's tough. He's dangerous, definitely," Arlovski admitted.
"But, it's a business, you know. It's nothing personal. It's business."
