Andrei Arlovski talks about upcoming fight with Fedor

http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/...7802&zoneid=13


Vadim Finkelstein made an offer; Andrei Arlovski refused.



It was 2005, the time of Arlovski's reign as UFC heavyweight champion. His talent and ambition had brought him Stateside in April of 2000 after capturing the European crown of Finkelstein's promotion, M-1 Mix Fight, earlier that year. His UFC 28 debut was a success, announcing his presence in the then-struggling company with a submission victory over Aaron Brink.



Arlovski slowly worked his way to the top of the UFC's heavyweight division, persisting through setbacks at UFC 32 and 36 to wrest the interim, and later official, title away from Tim Sylvia at UFC 51. He was living his American dream.



Then, his old boss came calling.



"Vadim contacted me and said, 'I want you to be a member of my team; train with Fedor,'" Arlovski told MMAWeekly.com in an exclusive video interview.



Back in 2000, he was still green as a fighter, and Emelianenko was unknown to him. Five years later, he was well acquainted with the Russian's talents, as was the rest of the MMA world.



There were rumblings of the UFC trying to acquire Emelianenko in 2005 for a mega-fight – proof that the free agency mania surrounding him existed long before post-Bodog and Pride days – which Arlovski took with a grain of salt.



The way he saw it, there was no reason to join Emelianenko's camp. He was at the peak of his career, and wanted to do things his way.



"I said, 'First of all, I have a lot of ambitions, and maybe one day I will fight Fedor and I don't want to be his shadow,' (like) most guys in his heavyweight camp," he continued. "I said, 'no thank you.'"



Just like that, Arlovski went his way, and Emelianenko went his.



In 2006, Arlovski lost his title, and a little bit of his luster, at UFC 59 in a rematch with nemesis Tim Sylvia; he failed to regain it in their rubber match at UFC 61. He rebounded with three solid wins against Marcio Cruz, Fabricio Werdum, and Jake O'Brien, but by then, the UFC heavyweight picture had changed dramatically. Unhappy with the numbers in a new contract offering, Arlovski left the organization on cordial terms in June.



"I took a lesson from those fights," he said. "I choose fighting. I change all my life."



Emelianenko continued to dominate his opponents, though many were ill-suited to face him. Affliction scooped up the heavyweight in Spring 2008 after negotiations with the UFC broke down yet another time. His 36-second victory over Sylvia at Affliction's "Banned" did much to resurrect his myth as an unbeatable fighter.



In the end, Arlovski's prediction came true. After initially being scheduled to face top ranked heavyweight Josh Barnett on Oct. 11, Affliction's next show, "Day of Reckoning," was moved to Jan. 24, with Emelianenko taking Barnett's place.



Needless to say, Arlovski is happy with his decision.



"If I try to do something, I try to do the best, and I'm a grown man and I have my vision of life and my personal ambitions," Arlovski said. "I don't want to be (the) shadow of somebody. I don't want to do what somebody wants that I do. I want to do what I want, and that's exactly what I'm doing now."



The Belarusian heavyweight is currently in Los Angeles for a three-week camp with renowned boxing coach Freddie Roach. The two have been working together on and off for seven years, and share a mutual affection. On Christmas, they will log two training sessions. UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva will drop in for some sparring.



Arlovski feels the timing of the Emelianenko fight is right, particularly after Emelianenko's loss last month at the World Sambo Championships. Nothing will be left to chance.



"After his loss in the Sambo tournament, I think he's messed up a little bit," Arlovski said. "He says it's not important, but c'mon, let's be serious. He was unbeatable, like, five years, six years in Sambo, and he's not beatable in MMA. When you lose something, of course it's (expletive) important. For me, it's really hard to believe that he doesn't care about it. Of course he cares. He's not like 100 percent sure of himself."



That said, he is banking on the hardest fight of his life, one eight years in the making.



"If I think I can beat him because he lose his Sambo, I would be a stupid person," he said. "I want to beat him because of my hard work.



"I have a great opportunity to change everything."

 

Does anybody know if Arlovski has sparred with any "name" boxers, and if so how it went?

 

yes, their is footage of him sparring with Oquendo who give it to thim
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but it has to be a very good learning experience for Andrei, most MMA guy's spar with nobodies, Arlovski is really putting all the chance on his side for his fight with fedor

 

That's a crazy clip. Gun shy Oquendo had no fear of Arlovski. Oquendo is a pedestrian heavyweight fighter too. It shows how skillful boxing really is.

 

Andrei did okay.

 

You may have had a different impression of Oquendo 5 years ago when he outjabbed, outslicked and outboxed Chris Byrd en route to winning the IBF title. Thanks to typical Don King corruption, Byrd kept the belt. Oquendo has skills. He's just a weak minded and lazy guy. In theory, Arlovski here is sparring with the IBF heavyweight champion.

 

Not really, he barely landed a punch.

 

Now why you have to go and say that for!?

 

Even Byrd and Tua could barely land a decent punch on Oquendo for like 6-7 rounds.:::laughing:

 

considering he has no pro boxing experience, and Oquendo was a high ranking contender once, he did good enough. Obviously, it's just sparring and O was not going 100% especially because like I said Andrei is a novice, but AA did not embarrass himself.

 

you think he would have hung on to that belt for 5 years? Maybe if he fought every 2 years.

 

Not saying that. All I'm saying is that he won the IBF title that night but was robbed of it. Arlovski is sparring against a guy who won the IBF title. That's all I'm saying. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

I agree, he didn't embarrass himself at all, he looked competent, but it's a stretch to say he did alright.

 

Yeah, it wasn't competitive at all. He did alright from a perspective that he wasn't knocked down, I guess.

 

Because it's true

 

Arlovski has no chin to compete in boxing.

 

Fixed.

 

So, in theory, he was sparring against the former IBF champion.

 

He was sparring against a guy who beat the IBF champion in Chris Byrd but just didn't get the decision. It's ok if Arlovski looks lackluster against Oquendo in that regard. How good does a non-pro boxer usually look against a guy who should've been an IBF champion? ::
I'm not calling Oquendo the former IBF champion, I'm just saying that his skill level displayed on that particular night against Chris Byrd was indeed good enough to grant him the right to wearing the IBF title. That's all.

 

Don King even screwed Oquendo in the Toney fight. Typical.

 

Yes, I understand that. But he would have lost that title soon after he won it, so AA was sparring against teh FORMER IBF champ, not the current one. That's all I'm saying.

 

No disagreement from me. So your boy Novak Djokovic is gonna be playing Earnest Gulbis tomorrow I hear in the first round of the Brisbane Open.

 

Djoko will be #1 by the end of the year. :bears:

 

Lets not kid ourselves. Oquendo is a world class HW. He was a top ten ranked for a period of at least 2-3 years and fought for the IBF title. We all know the story, he got screwed and Hanz is correct, for all intents and purposes he should have got the belt that night. Did AA do well against him? No, but like Steve said, he didn't embarass himself neither. And also props to AA for bringing in a guy of Oquendo's caliber rather than most of the boxing stiffs that mma guys bring in to spar.

 

:doh:


TFK

 

What?::

 

He better get going soon because he already got wiped out of Brisbane by future great Earnests Gulbis in the first round.

 

intents and purposes

 

I corrected, english isn't my native tongue:kidcool:

 

WHAT IS?