Andrei Achiever – Arlovski’s Career and Not So Distant Future
Andrei “The Pit Bull” Arlovski is one of the most recognizable faces in the sport of MMA. In terms of brand recognition, he ranks right up there with Matt Hughes or Fedor Emelianenko. He’s the Russian guy who doesn’t look that Russian – he looks more like that big dude in college who got all the rebounds, or played fearsome defense in hockey; or maybe he was that wide receiver that no cornerback could handle.
Nope, he’s an MMA legend. “The Pit Bull” speaks fluent English and he is ripped for a heavyweight, unlike a lot of his doughy heavyweight counterparts. He’s well versed in sambo (a Russian grappling discipline combining wrestling with submissions and strikes) and he’s a wicked striker with KO power in both fists. He’s a natural heavyweight, at 6’4” and 245 pounds. Other than that, he is the physical and strategic template for current UFC heavyweights like Shane Carwin or Todd Duffee.
So, why is he working his way up the ladder of the second-biggest North American fighting promotion? The answer is simple: the fearsome Slavic striker’s weakness is his own strength: KO power. Big punches don’t faze him; instead, they fell him.
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Arlovski is booked to fight Antonio Silva at upcoming Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery this May 15th. Silva is a step down in competition for the Russian MMA veteran. Once a prodigy, having beaten the wily Ricco Rodriguez by split decision in 2008, Silva has been a perennial underachiever, fighting relative unknowns in the now-defunct Elite XC and Japan’s Sengoku promotion. Silva recently lost to Fabricio Werdum in Strikeforce last November.
The once-vaunted champion of the UFC heavyweight division has also experienced a fall from grace: indeed, the bigger they are, the harder they fall. It’s an apt cliché for Arlovski. From his first professional fight (a KO loss in 1999), Arlovski has shown that he is vulnerable to not being able to recover from big punches. Perhaps the most dispiriting KO was at the hands of once-dominant former UFC heavyweight champ Tim Sylvia in a rematch at UFC 59 (2006). After dropping Sylvia with a huge right hand, Sylvia recovered and launched a massive uppercut that floored Arlovski, who lost by TKO.
Arlovski lost a unanimous decision to Sylvia in a rubber match at UFC 61 in the same year and never again vied for the UFC championship.
After compiling a string of five straight victories in the UFC, Affliction and Elite XC (four by KO/TKO), Arlovski once again fell victim to his Achilles chin. After dominating Fedor Emelianenko in the headline bout for three straight minutes at Affliction: Day of Reckoning, Arlovski got sloppy; he launched a flying knee and ate a looping haymaker, which sent him crashing, glassy-eyed, to the canvas.
Brett Rogers, the blue-collar working class hero of Strikeforce’s heavyweight division, punctuated Fedor’s devastating finish by limiting his time against the Russian pugilist to 22 seconds at June 2009’s Strikeforce: Lawler versus Shields. Untouched, Rogers caught Arlovski with a left hook and pummeled him against the cage, dropping his beleaguered opponent and forcing the TKO stoppage. One might have said before the fight that Rogers was a step down in competition for Arlovski – yet Brett “The Grim” Rogers went on to fight two rounds with Fedor and will now vie for the Strikeforce heavyweight title against Alistair Overeem in the aforementioned Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery.
What’s going to happen? Like most Brazilian MMA fighters, Antonio Silva has a base in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. However, Silva can strike. Pit two combatants together, and either one has a “puncher’s chance” – the possibility of ending the fight with a knockout blow, no matter how lopsided the betting odds. These odds seem now to be stacked against Arlovski.
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Is Arlovski “punch drunk”? Does he have a “glass chin”? This is what we used to call boxers who dropped easily from legitimate blows – as compared to other fighters who could, for no tangible reason, withstand them. Now we know that the ability to withstand punches is a combination of physiology and the amount punishment the brain has taken. No amount of rest or time off can fix this. It is called post-concussive syndrome. One of the most salient indicators of this syndrome is a continued susceptibility to knock-outs – concussions, in other words. Of course, I am not a physician – but Arlovski’s record speaks for itself: he doesn’t seem to be able to recover from a big punch.
Arlovski has already attained far more than the average fighter can hope to in any division: he had the UFC heavyweight belt. He lost to the best heavyweight to live and breathe in MMA. He’s fought the next generation and won, defeating Jake O’Brien, Ben Rothwell and Roy Nelson – the latter is considered a dark horse for title contention in the next year to come.
Sincere props to Andrei for staying in the game, but if he sustains another flash KO, it might be time to rest on his laurels and pursue less pugilistic means of earning dough.
By Roy Kok
ProFighting-fans.com MMA Staff Writer