The last time we saw Andrei Arlovski, he was picking apart the best MMA fighter in the world, Fedor Emelianenko. Unfortunately, an ill-timed flying knee proved to be his undoing, as after dominating Fedor for the first three minutes of the bout, he was knocked out cold. Since then, Arlovski has talked about finally making his professional boxing debut, so it caught most MMA fans by surprised when news broke that he would be facing the undefeated Brett Rogers on the June 6 Strikeforce show.
FanHouse spoke to Arlovski about gearing up for Rogers on short notice and his quest to avenge his loss to Fedor. The full interview is below.
Ariel Helwani: Have you signed a long-term deal with Strikeforce?
Andrei Arlovski: No, no. I am still under contract with Affliction. We will see what will happen after.
Is there a chance that we'll be seeing you fight at "Affliction: Trilogy" on August 1?
Yeah, maybe. Who knows?
What do you know about Brett Rogers?
I just saw him once fight excellent. He fought in San Jose (against Abongo Humphrey), and he knocked out his opponent. He's a tough, big guy. He likes to strikes and he has heavy hands. He likes to strike, I like to box, so it will be an interesting fight.
No one has really tried to take him down. Is that something that you are hoping to do?
I can tell you one thing: I practiced my freestyle wrestling a lot and jiu-jitsu before I came to my training camp in L.A. I focused more on my wrestling and jiu-jitsu.
Have you been training for this fight at Freddie Roach's Wildcard Gym in Los Angeles?
Yeah. I'm training a lot there, but not for this fight. I was supposed to have a professional boxing match on June 27 in L.A., but in my mind, I was thinking that I could fight somewhere in June for Affliction in MMA. So, that's why I was training a lot in wrestling and jiu-jitsu.
Are you still planning on making your pro boxing debut on June 27?
Yeah. If no injuries after June 6, yeah, I will have my professional boxing debut on June 27.
Do you know who you will be fighting?
Not yet.
So, are you planning on fighting in both sports moving forward?
Yeah. I want to try it.
Have you watched your fight against Fedor Emelianenko in January?
No. No.
Do you plan on watching on it?
I don't think so. All my trainers told me I should watch it because I have to watch what I did wrong, but I know what I did wrong. Not right now or anytime soon. I still hurt after this fight, and I know what I did wrong. The lesson I took from this loss was that I didn't follow my game plan and that's it.
How long did it take for you to get over the loss?
I took a couple of weeks off. After that, I had the opportunity to be on "Universal Soldier III." I flew to Bulgaria to shoot the movie, and when I came back from Bulgaria, I came back to the gym and after that I came to L.A.
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Did you enjoy the experience of shooting a film?
I had a lot of fun. It was very interesting for me because I did something new. It was good because it was a great crew with John Hyams, who was the director of "The Smashing Machine." I had a lot of fun, and it definitely helped me relax my mind and forget about my loss on January 24. But when were shooting, I asked, 'Listen, John, c'mon, let's do something - I want to be the No. 1 guy in the movie,' because the No.1 guy is [Jean Claude] Van Damme, and I said, 'I want to kill him.' And he said, 'Well, you know, I'm sorry but you're No. 2 because Fedor beat you on January 24.' He made fun of that, but it's kind of like he reminded me, and for a couple of days, I was in a bad mood because of that.
That's not cool.
Yeah, but he's a cool guy, and we joked around. I just took this too serious at the beginning, but after that, I made fun of it, too ... Now I'm fine, and I have to move on.
Your manager, Leo Khorlinsky, recently told me that when you were on the set of the movie in Bulgaria, people were asking for the "How's taste my pee pee" T-shirt. That's pretty wild.
(Laughs) Yeah. It was funny. Actually, it was a really popular T-shirt in Bulgaria. When Leo flew back to Chicago, I asked him, 'Can you bring a box of these T-shirts because everybody wants that T-shirt, 'How's taste my pee pee.'
I heard that you actually didn't mean to say what everyone thinks you said. Is that true?
I know my English is not good, and I tried to, you know, like on TV when they tell bad words it [sounds] like 'beep beep beep,' but it sounds like pee pee ... It's all good.
Right. Anyhow, the winner of this fight could get a shot at Alistair Overeem and the Strikeforce heavyweight title. Would you be interested in that fight?
Of course I'm interested ... But more importantly for me is to have a rematch against Fedor. Like I said, I am beginning on my road to chase him everywhere. And I'm going to chase him, because if he's a true champion and like he said, 'I got a victory over Arlovski for all my orthodox fans,' I just want to fight him again. I want to fight not only for my orhtodox fans, I want to fight for my Catholic, Muslim, Jewish fans ... Just all my fans. To me, it sounds kind of hypocritical when he said, 'I got a victory for all my orthodox fans.' MMA is an international sport and I just want to fight for my fans; it doesn't matter. I'm from Belarus, but my second home is the US, so I just want to fight for my fans. I just wish that nobody can beat him until I have a rematch against him.
Do you think he will beat Josh Barnett on August 1?
I'm sure and I hope. I pray to God to keep Fedor winning until I am going to face him again.
If he beats Barnett, do you think you could face him next?
Of course not. Like I said, I'm a contender right now. I don't even know what my place in the ranks is. I'm like all the fighters in the line ... The fact is that he beat me; he knocked me out. So, I am a contender and he's the champion. So, I am just going to start chasing him again everywhere. I'm sure it will be a long way, but if somebody is going to give me a rematch right away, I would be more than happy.
How do you envision your fight against Rogers ending?
You know, in the press conference he said that he's going to knock me out. I'm looking for victory ... If I see an opportunity to knock him out, of course, I will knock him out. If I see an opportunity to take him down and do some leg locks, armbars or chokes, of course, I am going to do it.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
ummm...I watched that Fedor Arlovski fight, and I missed the part where you (Ariel Helwani) claim that Andre was "picking fedor apart" I actually just watched it again to make sure, and I have no idea what you are talking about, he didnt land one meaningful shot the entire time, are you just sucking up to Arlovski because he gave you an interview? what a joke...
He WAS getting the better of the striking. You may want to lose the bias and try watching that again.
hey AA was getting the better of the striking game. its hard to tell if Fedor was hurt but he got backed up into a corner and Fedor threw a punch with his head down. so i can only report the facts. any other comments about he was biding his time, he was planning this whole time, he was/wasn't hurt, is irrelevant. nobody knows if he was hurt except for Fedor. so everyone's comment about that fight is either on one side or the other but only Fedor knows if he was hurt, and he won't tell you that he got hurt or not its not in his Russian genes to show emotion or pain lol (was a joke). AA is infamous for having a glass jaw so its not like he has never been KO'd before, nor is it surprising.
i think if Arlovski gets a rematch we see the same results, Fedor by KO.
AA wasn't doing anything. Nothing he threw landed clean. If he was dominating the standup why did he try and fail to take Fedor down? Get this hogwash out of here
Arlovski did have the better of the stand up exchange when he fought Fedor. He may not have hurt Fedor much but Andrei did real good job on the feet... until the end. As for Arlovski's fight with Brett Rogers. Arlovski has better skills all around and more experience. Brett Rogers is probably the better wrestler who possesses more than enough knockout power to place Arlovski on the mat and to leave him with more sleepless nights.
I don't know what compubox would have for numbers of Arlovski's punch count, and Arlovski looked technically sound, but Fedor knocked him out with only a couple of shots thrown.
In that fight one looked good, and one was good. I'd go with the being good every time. Fact is, Arlovski didn't make it to the end of the first round.
Yeah, I like both fighters, but Arlovski's performance in this was overrated, and shows both where standard boxing skills, which Arlovski tried to improve w/ Freddie Roach, work in MMA--and when they run into their limits. (In fact read Brett Rogers's Team Bison Coach Mike Riley for a great online article on this, and why the proportion of power punches NEEDS to be higher in MMA.) You can't simply try to rack up points w/ your jab in this sport unless it is for CERTAIN setting up a decisive finish. The fact is Arlovski needs to go back and sharpen his once-good ground game and integrate it into his boxing if he wants to get back to the top. Fedor? Every part still of his game is still integrated--including the thunder in his hands.
well said decusa. boxing is about scoring points, mma is about fighting. it's good to have boxing skills for throwing, but not boxing to win in mma.
but having awesome boxing is always a good thing. cause the fight starts out standing, so if you can keep your distance and pick your shot you may find that button and get a nice KO. but on the other hand its not like AA is one sided. he has good wrestling, and JJ. so if the fight does go to the ground he wouldn't be so far off like everyone thinks he will be.
Oh, I didn't think he'd be. I still remember his sambo background and moves like his heel hook on Tim Sylvia. It's just that like so many fighters who suddenly pick up a new part of their game and get good at it, Arlovski seems to have gotten away from his original strengths. Even more than that, not integrated the old and new yet. A jab is great in MMA--IF you got a LOT else. On the other hand some great boxers have had little else and gotten away with it.
the trouble is keeping your ego in check when you fight. sometimes,(ok alot of times), you'll throw the game plan out just to try and beat the other guy at his game. ego is very hard to overcome and can spoil a good plan. it's like if you know you can take a guy down and dominate him you try to fight him standing just to prove you can and you're better. ego screws up a lot of fight plans.