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Tough times for Chicagoland fighters

It's been a rough summer for Chicago-area fighters.

Andrei Arlovski, a Chicagoan by way of Belarus, started the summer on the receiving end of a Bret Rogers 22-second TKO at Strikeforce. It was Arlovski's second quick loss in as many fights, with the first one coming to Fedor Emelianenko in January.

Clay Guida, a Cubs fan who lives and trains in the suburbs of the Windy City, continued Chicago's rough June with a split-decision loss to Diego Sanchez at "The Ultimate Fighter 9" Finale. Guida withstood a tough early onslaught from Sanchez, but fell short on the judges cards.

That led to Sunday night at WEC 42, when four Chicago-area fighters were on the card. Miguel Torres, Ricardo Lamas, Jeff Curran and John Hosman all had bouts. At least one of them had to win and restore some Chicago pride, right?

Wrong. Miguel Torres was knocked out by Brian Bowles, giving up the only major championship belt in Chicagoland. Lamas was TKOed by Danny Castillo and Curran lost a decision to Takeya Mizugaki. Rani Yahya only needed 2:08 to submit John Hosman, who had taken the fight on just three weeks notice.

Ouch. 0-6 on the summer for my fair city.

With summer's end quickly approaching, one Chicagoan has the chance to keep the salvage the city's fighting reputation. Mike Russow, a heavyweight and Chicago cop, will make his UFC debut against Justin McCully at UFC 102 and is the last shot for Chicago to get a big fighting win this summer.

If not, that's ok. We Chicagoans are all too comfortable with the phrase, "Wait until next year."