UFC Hamburg: Andrei Arlovski has his eyes on the heavyweight belt
With his fight against Josh Barnett at UFC Hamburg around the corner, heavyweight Andrei Arlovski keeps his focus on the heavyweight title.
At 37 years old, Belarusian heavyweight Andrei Arlovski is certainly not interested in floating around the heavyweight division. In his youth, Arlovski took a shared interest in law enforcement, personal fitness, and pushing his martial arts to the next level by taking up combat sports such as sambo, judo, and kickboxing. After great success in European combat sport and MMA organizations, Arlovski took the UFC by storm in 2000 during UFC 28 when he submitted Aaron Brink by armbar 55 seconds into the first round.
Arlovski went on to lose his next two fights as a result of TKO and realized he needed to change his approach to fighting in the octagon to succeed at such a high level. He went on to beat his next three opponents, putting them all out with suffocating striking.
Then after a motorcycle accident forced then heavyweight champion Frank Mir to pull out of defending his title, the UFC created an interim belt and pinned the divisions two best fighters against each other. After an overhand right that sent his opponent to the ground, Arlovski went on to finish polished heavyweight Tim Sylvia 47 seconds into the first round with an Achilles lock.
Arlovski was the new UFC Interim Heavyweight Champion just seven fights into his UFC career, and went on to defend his belt twice before the UFC announced that it recognized him as the undisputed heavyweight champion. Arlovski’s next fight was a rematch against Sylvia for the now undisputed belt, but he was unable to survive a flurry of punches after being knocked down and the fight was stopped.
Arlovski was given a rematch against the new champion Sylvia in his next fight, which turned out to be a five-round war of attrition. Neither fighter was able to land significant strikes and the fight resulted in a unanimous win for Sylvia. After the crippling back-to-back losses, Arlovski went on to win his next three fights in the UFC to finish his contract with the organization. In 2008, Pit Bull closed his career in the UFC with a record of 10–4, including going 3–2 in UFC title fights.
Arlovski went on to fight in other organizations and had a very rocky six years in various fights against high level opponents like Fedor, Antonio “Big Foot” Silva, and his former UFC opponent Tim Sylvia. Then, in 2014 the UFC announced Arlovski would be returning to the organization to face Brendan Schaub at UFC 174. He came out on top and went on to win his next three fights in deciding fashion.
After this hot streak to start his return to the UFC, Arlovski hit some major road bumps in the last two fights he’s faced. On January 2 of this year, he fell victim to current heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic 54 seconds into the first round by TKO. Then, four months later at at UFC Fight Night 87, he was bested yet again by TKO by world class kickboxing and judo champion Alistair Overeem.
After three months of recovery and training, Arlovski is back to fight fan favorite Josh Barnett on Saturday night in Hamburg. Now he has made it clear his mission is not only to get the best of his opponent at UFC Hamburg, but to also carve out a path back to a heavyweight title shot.
The Belarusian wants to reign as heavyweight champion again. Will he start his trip back to the top at #UFCHamburg? pic.twitter.com/bvqH2Kl3kQ
— #UFCHamburg (@ufc) September 2, 2016
Although he is ranked sixth among his division foes, Arlovski has a shot to return to glory if he is able to take care of business in his next few fights. Arlovski would need a win Saturday night against the veteran Barnett, and at least another fight against a top-5 fighter in the division to prove himself worthy of another shot at the gold.
With current heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic set to fight Alistair Overeem at UFC 203, the table could be setting itself for Arlovski to sneak into contention and possibly earn a rematch against one of the two. If given the chance, Arlovski will have to make the most of it given his recent history in the octagon and his age. If the Pit Bull can return to form in his next few fights, we could see him eventually walk out of the fighting game on top with the UFC heavyweight championship around his waist.
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