Andrei ArlovskiThe Pitbul
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"The Pitbull" was born on February 4, 1979 in Minsk, Belarus. His introduction to martial arts came at the age of 18, but it was after enrolling at the police academy that Andrei Arlovski was introduced to the grappling art of Sambo, a hybrid of sorts between Jiu-Jitsu and Judo. Andrei became proficient quickly and won both the European Youth Sambo Championship and the World Youth Championship in 1999. He also earned silver medals at the Sambo World Cup and the World Sambo Championship. At age twenty, he won the Sambo championship. Andrei repeated the accomplishment at age 21 and was awarded the title of Sambo Master. Arlovski rounded out his superior ground fighting skills by training in kickboxing striking skills with former world champion kick boxer Dimitri Stepanov and K-1 Champion Andrei Dudko. Russia was the site of Arlovski's professional MMA career. He was KO'd by Viacheslav Datsik at Mix Fight M-1 in April 1999. The following year he scored two victories in the M-1 European Championships and won the heavyweight championship.
Aaron Brink was Arlovski's first Ultimate Fighting Championship victim at at UFC 28: High Stakes. Losses to Ricco Rodriguez and Pedro Rizzo would slow his progress, but a victories against Ian Freeman and Vladimir Matyushenko kept him in the thick of things. When UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir injured himself, Andrei Arlovski faced former champion, Tim "The Maine-iac" Silvia for the interim title on February 5, 2005. Both men were heralded for their striking power. Andrei landed an overhand right, dropped Silvia, and forced him to tap to an achilles ankle lock at just 47 seconds of the first round. Mir had not fully recovered from his injury, and on August 12, 2005, the UFC officially recognized Arlovski as the Heavyweight champion. The champ showed that it was the wise decision with an October 7 15 second spanking of Paul Buentello. It would take a rematch with former champion, Tim Sylvia to derail Arlovski. On April 15, 2006, Arlovski dropped the title to Sylvia when he was knocked out at 2:43 of the first round, moments after knocking Silvia down. Andrei currently trains and resides and in Chicago, Illinois with boxing coach, Mike Garcia and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu coach, Dino Costeas
Andrei Arlovski MMA Record
4/15/2006 Loss Tim Sylvia UFC 59 TKO (Punches) Round 1, 2:43
Ray Mardo is a former freestyle wrestler. The Austin Film Festival honored writer now spends his days as the webmaster of several websites about ultimate fighting championship and mixed martial arts, extreme championship wrestling, world championship wrestling, who is the coolest guy on the planet, and DJ training. Andrei Arlovski Official Site |