Andrei Arlovski Fighter Profile

Andrei Arlovski was born February 4th, 1979 in the country of Belarus near the former Soviet Union. Growing up he showed a large interest in the sport of football, but that soon developed into a need for personal fitness and his love of combat sports blossomed. 
Arlovski considered a career in law enforcement and managed to combine that with his love of martial arts by enrolling into the required police defense course of Sambo. Sambo is a Russian based form of martial arts that focuses on grappling techniques. It became very clear, after several victories (including several championships and a silver medal at the Sambo world cup), that he found more interest in the competitive aspects of the technique rather than it's crime fighting potential. To prepare for a career in the MMA, Arlovski began to train in kick-boxing to add a striking skill to compliment with his Sambo grappling. In 1999 his first MMA event would be the Mix Fight M-1 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Despite a loss during this competition he would return to the M-1 event the next year, the European Championships, and walk away with the Heavyweight crown from two successful victories. 
Later that year, Arlovski would join the Ultimate Fighting Championship during their UFC 28 event and would face off with Aaron Brink. His first round submission victory over Brink shot him up several ranks which may have been more than he was prepared for. In upcoming matches against Ricco Rodriguez and Pedro Rizzo, Arlovski would be outmatched and knocked out by his opponents would put his career in question. It would be his next fights against Ian Freeman, Vladimir Matyushenko, and Wesley Correira that would add victories to his record and propel himself back up the ranks. This could not come any sooner, as former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir had obtained a leg injury during a Motorcycle accident and could not defend his title at the time. An interim title was created in the meantime and heavyweights Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski were set to fight for it. 
The match occurred on February 5th 2005 during UFC 51. Sylvia was the favored contender as he had defeated his last eight opponents to get himself to this point. Both fighters were also known for their striking power, but it would be the quick and agile Arlovski that would secure an Achilles Lock on his opponent causing him to submit. On August 12th, 2005, two months after defending his interim title against Justin Eilers, the UFC would officially announce Arlovski as the holder of the UFC Heavyweight title when it seemed clear that Frank Mir would not be recovering from his injuries any time soon. 
His first contender for his newly acquired title would be the aggressive Paul Buentello. But in the end Buentello was only able to withstand fifteen seconds in the Octagon with Arlovski before taking a single punch and being knocked to the floor. 
On April 15th, 2006, Tim Sylvia would once again face off against Arlovski, but now the Belarusian "Pitbull" had his heavyweight title at stake. Things began in Arlovski's favor when he had managed a surprise punch that had sent Sylvia to the ground, however Sylvia managed to protect himself from subsequent punches and got to his feet. Just as Arlovski attempted to throw a finishing punch, Sylvia countered with a right hook to the chin, stunning Arlovski who collapsed to the floor. Sylvia followed by striking the back of Arlovski's head over and over again until the judge stopped the fight and gave the victory and the heavyweight title to Sylvia. 
Andrei Arlovski continues his training near his home in Chicago. With boxing training by Mike Garcia, Gracie style Brazilian Jiu-jitsu training provided by Dino Costeas, and additional training by former light heavyweight title bearer, and UFC legend, Randy Coutour who announced his retirement from fighting earlier this year. 
UFC 61 Bitter Rivals: I'll save you the suspense here because there isn't a whole lot to highlight, but there is reason to rant. Arlovski loses the decision in this rematch to Tim Sylvia largely because he just didn't do enough to win it. He ate a few shots from Sylvia in each round. Early on, it looks like Arlovski plans to use a strategy of blasting Sylvia's legs with inside and outside kicks, but he seemed to abandon the strategy at some point in round three. Bad decision, because more than once Sylvia looked like he was having trouble walking. Rather than sticking with the leg kicks, Arlovski just keeps going for the overhand right, the same punch he's used to put Sylvia down before. He never connects though, and in the process of repeatedly going for the same punch, he gets tagged by Sylvia a lot. By the end of round five, the crowd is extremely unhappy as neither fighter is very aggressive. The decision goes to Sylvia, and I think rightly so, but arguably as much by default as anything else.
What you had in this fight was two fighters fighting not to lose instead of going for the win. Neither wanted to risk eating a big shot like they had in the past. Neither ever even tried to take the other down. Neither pressed an advantage when they gained one. Both guys swung for the fences from time to time, but not effectively. What flurries there were all seemed too short, but in the end neither guy was willing to take a risk. I've never seen Arlovski look intimidated, but he sure did in this one. Sylvia looked like his usual self, with decent looks here and there but little in the way of serious aggression. Tonight however, with Arlovski fighting like he did, it was enough.One other note: During the fight, some of the crowd chanted "USA" which I thought was a little odd. Arlovski trains in the U.S. and is hardly the protopical Soviet villain (if such a thing even exists anymore). 
Fight Record - 12-5-0 
<ul>
<li>
<div minmax_bound="true">04-21-2007 - Defeats Fabricio Werdum, UFC 70, Unanimous Decision</div></li>
<li>
<div minmax_bound="true">12-30-2006 - Defeats Marcio Cruz, UFC 66, KO Round 1, 3:15</div></li>
<li>07-08-2006 - Lost to Tim Sylvia, UFC 61, Unanimous Decision </li>
<li>04-15-2006 - Lost to Tim Sylvia, UFC 59, TKO Round 1, 2:43 </li>
<li>07-10-2005 - Defeats Paul Buentello, UFC 55, KO Round 1, 0:15  </li>
<li>06-04-2005 - Defeats Justin Eliers, UFC 53, TKO Round 1, 4:10 </li>
<li>02-05-2005 - Defeats Tim Sylvia, UFC 51, Submission Round 1, 0:47  </li>
<li>04-02-2004 - Defeats Wesley Correira, UFC 47, TKO Round 2, 1:15  </li>
<li>09-26-2003 - Defeats Vladmir Matyushenko, UFC 44, KO Round 1, 1:59  </li>
<li>11-22-2002 - Defeats Ian Freeman, UFC 40, TKO Round 1, 1:25  </li>
<li>03-22-2002 - Lost to Pedro Rizzo, UFC 36, KO Round 3, 1:45 </li>
<li>06-29-2001 - Lost to Ricco Rodriguez, UFC 32, TKO Round 3, 1:23  </li>
<li>11-17-2000 - Defeats Aaron Brink, UFC 28, Submission Round 1, 0:55 </li>
<li>05-13-2000 - Defeats John Dixon, SF at International Tournament, KO </li>
<li>04-09-2000 - Defeats Roman Zentsov, M-1 MFC Championship 2000, TKO Round 1, 1:18 </li>
<li>04-09-2000 - Defeats Michael Tielrooy, M-1 MFC C 2000, Submission Round 1, 1:25  </li>
<li>04-09-1999 - Lost to Viacheslav Datsik, M-1 MFC Championship 1999, KO Round 1, 6:05 </li></ul>

Weight Class Eligible for Top 10 ( tick if yes )

( Seperate each weight class with a space. Tags for weight classes are: lw = light weight, mw = middle weight, lhw = light hw, he = heavy weight )

What did you change? In an effort to make editorial approval easier please specify briefly the changes you made to the bio. If you updated the fight record, say so, improved the bio explain how. Simple, short but clear explanations please! When changes are approved you will get POINTS and also credit for the last change.

UFC 66 Post-Fight Interveiw Andrei Arlovski	Andrei Arlovski v Viacheslav Datsik
all access: Andrei Arlovski part 1	Arlovski vs Viacheslav
Andrei Arlovski WWE	all access: Andre Arlovski part 2

Andrei Arlovski was born February 4th, 1979 in the country of Belarus near the former Soviet Union. Growing up he showed a large interest in the sport of football, but that soon developed into a need for personal fitness and his love of combat sports blossomed.

Arlovski considered a career in law enforcement and managed to combine that with his love of martial arts by enrolling into the required police defense course of Sambo. Sambo is a Russian based form of martial arts that focuses on grappling techniques. It became very clear, after several victories (including several championships and a silver medal at the Sambo world cup), that he found more interest in the competitive aspects of the technique rather than it's crime fighting potential. To prepare for a career in the MMA, Arlovski began to train in kick-boxing to add a striking skill to compliment with his Sambo grappling. In 1999 his first MMA event would be the Mix Fight M-1 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Despite a loss during this competition he would return to the M-1 event the next year, the European Championships, and walk away with the Heavyweight crown from two successful victories.

Later that year, Arlovski would join the Ultimate Fighting Championship during their UFC 28 event and would face off with Aaron Brink. His first round submission victory over Brink shot him up several ranks which may have been more than he was prepared for. In upcoming matches against Ricco Rodriguez and Pedro Rizzo, Arlovski would be outmatched and knocked out by his opponents would put his career in question. It would be his next fights against Ian Freeman, Vladimir Matyushenko, and Wesley Correira that would add victories to his record and propel himself back up the ranks. This could not come any sooner, as former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir had obtained a leg injury during a Motorcycle accident and could not defend his title at the time. An interim title was created in the meantime and heavyweights Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski were set to fight for it.

The match occurred on February 5th 2005 during UFC 51. Sylvia was the favored contender as he had defeated his last eight opponents to get himself to this point. Both fighters were also known for their striking power, but it would be the quick and agile Arlovski that would secure an Achilles Lock on his opponent causing him to submit. On August 12th, 2005, two months after defending his interim title against Justin Eilers, the UFC would officially announce Arlovski as the holder of the UFC Heavyweight title when it seemed clear that Frank Mir would not be recovering from his injuries any time soon.

His first contender for his newly acquired title would be the aggressive Paul Buentello. But in the end Buentello was only able to withstand fifteen seconds in the Octagon with Arlovski before taking a single punch and being knocked to the floor.

On April 15th, 2006, Tim Sylvia would once again face off against Arlovski, but now the Belarusian "Pitbull" had his heavyweight title at stake. Things began in Arlovski's favor when he had managed a surprise punch that had sent Sylvia to the ground, however Sylvia managed to protect himself from subsequent punches and got to his feet. Just as Arlovski attempted to throw a finishing punch, Sylvia countered with a right hook to the chin, stunning Arlovski who collapsed to the floor. Sylvia followed by striking the back of Arlovski's head over and over again until the judge stopped the fight and gave the victory and the heavyweight title to Sylvia.

Andrei Arlovski continues his training near his home in Chicago. With boxing training by Mike Garcia, Gracie style Brazilian Jiu-jitsu training provided by Dino Costeas, and additional training by former light heavyweight title bearer, and UFC legend, Randy Coutour who announced his retirement from fighting earlier this year.

UFC 61 Bitter Rivals: I'll save you the suspense here because there isn't a whole lot to highlight, but there is reason to rant. Arlovski loses the decision in this rematch to Tim Sylvia largely because he just didn't do enough to win it. He ate a few shots from Sylvia in each round. Early on, it looks like Arlovski plans to use a strategy of blasting Sylvia's legs with inside and outside kicks, but he seemed to abandon the strategy at some point in round three. Bad decision, because more than once Sylvia looked like he was having trouble walking. Rather than sticking with the leg kicks, Arlovski just keeps going for the overhand right, the same punch he's used to put Sylvia down before. He never connects though, and in the process of repeatedly going for the same punch, he gets tagged by Sylvia a lot. By the end of round five, the crowd is extremely unhappy as neither fighter is very aggressive. The decision goes to Sylvia, and I think rightly so, but arguably as much by default as anything else.

What you had in this fight was two fighters fighting not to lose instead of going for the win. Neither wanted to risk eating a big shot like they had in the past. Neither ever even tried to take the other down. Neither pressed an advantage when they gained one. Both guys swung for the fences from time to time, but not effectively. What flurries there were all seemed too short, but in the end neither guy was willing to take a risk. I've never seen Arlovski look intimidated, but he sure did in this one. Sylvia looked like his usual self, with decent looks here and there but little in the way of serious aggression. Tonight however, with Arlovski fighting like he did, it was enough.One other note: During the fight, some of the crowd chanted "USA" which I thought was a little odd. Arlovski trains in the U.S. and is hardly the protopical Soviet villain (if such a thing even exists anymore).

Fight Record - 12-5-0

04-21-2007 - Defeats Fabricio Werdum, UFC 70, Unanimous Decision
12-30-2006 - Defeats Marcio Cruz, UFC 66, KO Round 1, 3:15
07-08-2006 - Lost to Tim Sylvia, UFC 61, Unanimous Decision
04-15-2006 - Lost to Tim Sylvia, UFC 59, TKO Round 1, 2:43
07-10-2005 - Defeats Paul Buentello, UFC 55, KO Round 1, 0:15
06-04-2005 - Defeats Justin Eliers, UFC 53, TKO Round 1, 4:10
02-05-2005 - Defeats Tim Sylvia, UFC 51, Submission Round 1, 0:47
04-02-2004 - Defeats Wesley Correira, UFC 47, TKO Round 2, 1:15
09-26-2003 - Defeats Vladmir Matyushenko, UFC 44, KO Round 1, 1:59
11-22-2002 - Defeats Ian Freeman, UFC 40, TKO Round 1, 1:25
03-22-2002 - Lost to Pedro Rizzo, UFC 36, KO Round 3, 1:45
06-29-2001 - Lost to Ricco Rodriguez, UFC 32, TKO Round 3, 1:23
11-17-2000 - Defeats Aaron Brink, UFC 28, Submission Round 1, 0:55
05-13-2000 - Defeats John Dixon, SF at International Tournament, KO
04-09-2000 - Defeats Roman Zentsov, M-1 MFC Championship 2000, TKO Round 1, 1:18
04-09-2000 - Defeats Michael Tielrooy, M-1 MFC C 2000, Submission Round 1, 1:25
04-09-1999 - Lost to Viacheslav Datsik, M-1 MFC Championship 1999, KO Round 1, 6:05

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