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Sun Jan 25, 2009 5:50 am EST

Distraught Arlovski thinks he blew his shot at history

By Steve Cofield

Sure the pay is getting better but most mixed martial artists fight for the love of the sport and in the case of Andrei Arlovski, a sense of history. Fedor Emelianenko hasn't really ever come close to losing once in 30 fights. Arlovski was testing him with solid boxing and good hand speed through the first three minutes of their fight Affliction 2 in Anaheim. "The Pit Bull" had Fedor backing up and then made one mistake when he tried a flying knee that was countered by a perfectly timed overhand right from Fedor. Arlovski went down in a heap. That slight opening is all the greats need.

Arlovski work with renowned boxing trainer Freddie Roach for last year and they were confident they could expose Fedor's defensive deficiencies:    

"I did pretty good in the first few minutes," said Arlovski. "But then I tried to do something flashy and paid for it. I have to sit down with myself and figure out why I didn't listen to my trainers."

Arlovski thought he was winning the fight before his slip:

"Every single jab or right hand, I thought that I hurt him. It was very effective for me. I don't know why I changed my tactic. One little mistake and I paid for this. All my hard work and training, I just threw it in the toilet."

Click below to hear Arlovski dwell on his lost opportunity:

He's a former two-time UFC heavyweight champ but for Arlovski this was the chance of a lifetime:

"Tonight it was a great opportunity for me to make history. I'm really worried that somebody will beat Fedor. I just want to wish him that he's wins against all his next opponents until our next match."

That said, the Belarussian didn't walk away from the loss in awe of Fedor:

"He's a great fighter (but) sooner or later someone will beat him. I'm very upset with myself that I wasn't that person. You know he's a human."

Arlovski said it's up to co-promoters Affliction and Golden Boy Promotion if he gets another shot at Fedor. For now he knows he has to get in line.

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62 Comments

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  1. MMA is the future
    1. Posted by MMA is the future Thu Sep 03, 2009 2:57 pm EDT

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    Arlovski is right that his mistake with Fedor is traced back to his fight with Sylvia. He gets excited too soon and forgets to stay cool. It's the intangibles that separate a dominant champion like Fedor from a perpetual contender like Arlovski. It's all about composure, grace under fire, presence of mind. Arlovski doesn't have any of these things. He makes big mistakes in critical moments, gets wild when he smells blood, and Fedor is the opposite, he's the one that keeps calm and aware and can instantly capitalize on such mistakes. Anderson Silva is another guy who seems to have a real strong mental game, as well as Gegard Mousasi, which is amazing given his young age. Nogueira in his prime as well.
  2. joshua c
    2. Posted by joshua c Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:50 pm EDT

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    I agree. Arlovski was landing kicks and jabs, but did you ever see Fedor worried? I think if the fight would've continued it is possible Arlovski's superior speed could have created problems for Fedor. But you have to also think that in, let's say three rounds, Fedor wouldn't be able to get him to the mat and work his submission skills? Or throw a game changing punch? I think Fedor would've come out victorious either way.
  3. Daddy
    3. Posted by Daddy Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:42 pm EDT

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    Is Fedor really that good. Or did UFC just get rid of all their washed up talent. Could Arlovski really go to the UFC and become a competitor? Everyone says UFC Heavyweight division is weak, but isn't every heavyweight division weak. Look Fedor is fighting better competition but he is still not fighting the top competition. He fights the over paid, over hyped UFC rejects that could not hang in the UFC. That is why they are with the T-shirt company. The UFC may be weak right now but give the up and commers a year and I think some of them would give Fedor a run for his money.
  4. Luis
    4. Posted by Luis Thu Sep 03, 2009 2:56 pm EDT

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    Fedor set a trap for Arlovski, he knew that Arlovski was not gonna keep that cool boxing strategy for long and sooner or later he was gonna try to go for the kill if he saw an opportunity. So what did Fedor do? He cornered himself when he got a kick to the body that did not seem to be very potent but we saw how Fedor "strangely" acommodated himself in that corner...so what happened? Arlovski did what he loves doing...a flying knee attack....What Fedor did? He caught Arlovski in mid air with a punch that sent him to sleep before he hit the ground. Even in boxing, you only need one good punch, Mr. Roach ;)
  5. PurpleSweetie5067
    5. Posted by PurpleSweetie5067 Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:41 pm EDT

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    The affliction card is fantastic, underards and main event is worth every penny, fedor is the best i think, but as far as former ufc heavyweight champ opponets that he decimated is concerned for me personally we still cannot say that he is the best in the world, man he decimated tim sylvia 36 seconds in the first round, and got arlovski with "lucky overhand in mid air" with like a minute and 30 secs in the first round... if we remember both were realeased from the ufc because of their poor performance, sylvia deafeted arlovski with a knock out way abck on their ufc days so if we are to check the fedor just fought someone who has already been defetated by his first foe on the first affliction card.. i'm no ufc nutlicker or whatsoever..we cannot put randy in front of fedor now because randy will probably get decimated not unless he will get fedor on a clinch aand if he will work on his boxing.. fedor right now is a monster but we cannot say that he is the best p4p, for me it could a. silva or gsp, with th e growth on their game and with quality title defenses that they had..
  6. iron_hunk4u
    6. Posted by iron_hunk4u Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:32 pm EDT

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    Of course Fedor is going to say he was never in any really trouble lol.What do you expect him to say ? That he was in danger, and got lucky thanks to Andrei's stupidness in the flying knee move ? Fedor doesn't want any of his future competitors knowing any loopholes in his game-plan.That's part of his mental game,and he is one of the best at it.He intimidates many fighters before they even get in the ring.Arlovski wasn't.It's a shame he couldn't be smarter and not leave his chin out totally expose just asking for a knockout. Some think Fedor was just testing Arlovski,and baiting him to become over-confident.Nobody really knows, and of course he would say after the fight.Nobody wants to win on a wipe open punch off of a very very dumb move. Fedor does have some power behind his punches,and there are very few weaknesses in his game, but regardless of what he says....he WAS losing that fight up to that point.5 min. 5 rounds is a long time,and it's not enough to say how the fight would have gone.Anything could have happened, and I believe Andrei had a very good chance if he kept at his game plan.He's never been submitted,and very rarely ever been taken down to the ground.So who knows ?
  7. Brett R
    7. Posted by Brett R Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:59 pm EDT

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    "Daddy" why don't you do 5 minutes of research instead of illuminating how little you know about the sport you just wrote a paragraph on? Not counting their fights with each other, Arlovski and Sylvia are 17-3 in the UFC since September of '02, all losses by Sylvia (Mir, Couture, Nogueira), who was defending champion in two of the fights. Both of them are south of 33. Fedor made quicker work of Sylvia than anyone ever has, and now just destroyed Arlovski who was on a 5 fight winning streak (including active 3 fight UFC streak). Fedor improves to 6-0 against former UFC heavyweight champions with this latest highlight reel destruction.
  8. Luis
    8. Posted by Luis Thu Sep 03, 2009 2:56 pm EDT

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    Arlovski was keeping Fedor away with his boxing skills but there was 2 problems with that: 1) He was hardly connecting and 2) For how long was he gonna be able to keep those rapid punches coming? Fedor was also testing clinching in case it was gonna be needed in the end and we all could see that it was easy for Fedor to get near Arlovski the times he tried....So if this fight would have continued a little longer, Fedor would have probably taken this fight to the ground but I guess there was something about that chin Arlovski has that Fedor thought he could use it on his favor. And going back to those talking about UFC....in UFC there´s noone interesting or with enough preparation to take Fedor. Who do they have? Lesnar? A guy that gets easy carried away just like Mir showed the world? Lesnar is strong and have wrestling and punch power but that does not make a complete fighter and that will not impress a guy that has fought people as heavy and as tall as Lesnar before. Mir is a better all around fighter and will take Lesnar once again but Mir can only dream of staying awake for more than a round with Fedor. There´s a lot of interesting fighters in UFC, like St. Pierre, Penn, Mir, etc but when it comes to heavyweights you gotta be crazy or you have only seen MMA fights for only a year on youtube to say that there are fighters there that can take Fedor. Remember that Fedor fought fights were people could stomp on your head, throw flying knees at you when you were down,etc...So UFC rules just give a guy like Fedor less reasons to worry about if he has to deal with a moment of dizzyness.
  9. vmr2254
    9. Posted by vmr2254 Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:37 pm EDT

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    When fighters reach this level, especially in a fight of this magnitude, they must prepare both physically and mentally, and stick to their plan. Arlovski made a big mental mistake by getting reckless/flashy or whatever he wants to call it; the bottom line, he did something dumb and paid for it by getting knocked out. Fedor kept his composure (just because he appeared to be down did not mean he was done for) and was able to maximize on Andrei’s mistakes and won. We will never know if Arlovski could have beaten Fedor in this fight…however, we do know he failed to win this time around. I am big fan of Fedor and I am sure he will lose a fight at some point (all great fighters have lost at least once), but he is still a very skillful fighter who knows how to exploit an opponent’s weaknesses…which I think he did during this fight.
    They are both great fighters…however; Fedor was the better fighter this time around.
  10. AMC
    10. Posted by AMC Thu Sep 03, 2009 2:52 pm EDT

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    Goat
  11. Mankfoopa
    11. Posted by Mankfoopa Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:53 pm EDT

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    When it comes down to it, arlovski knows he can beat fedor. Fedor knows he can has the possibility of losing to arlovski. With that in mind i don't think there will be a rematch!
  12. david
    12. Posted by david Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:00 pm EDT

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    Neither tim sylvia or andrei are or were washed up. Andrei left the ufc, the ufc didn't release him. He went out on a high note. Tim Sylvia was looking great in his fight against nogueria, before he got submitted. He also asked to be released from his contract, why? to fight fedor. Jorell G, it sure seems like you are a nutlicker to me, Daddy as well. If you weren't you would remember that when fedor first refused to sign with the ufc dana put it out that it was because he didn't want to have to fight Tim Sylvia, who dana thought would beat him. It is funny to me how everyone all of a sudden becomes washed up after they lose to fedor. The Affliction heavyweight division is not weak. Just because the #2 guy loses to the #1 guy doesn't mean that the #2 guy sucks or is past his prime, it just means he isn't #1
  13. david
    13. Posted by david Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:00 pm EDT

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    Neither tim sylvia or andrei are or were washed up. Andrei left the ufc, the ufc didn't release him. He went out on a high note. Tim Sylvia was looking great in his fight against nogueria, before he got submitted. He also asked to be released from his contract, why? to fight fedor. Jorell G, it sure seems like you are heavily influenced by dana white to me, Daddy as well. If you weren't you would remember that when fedor first refused to sign with the ufc dana put it out that it was because he didn't want to have to fight Tim Sylvia, who dana thought would beat him. It is funny to me how everyone all of a sudden becomes washed up after they lose to fedor. The Affliction heavyweight division is not weak. Just because the #2 guy loses to the #1 guy doesn't mean that the #2 guy sucks or is past his prime, it just means he isn't #1
  14. DA
    14. Posted by DA Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:50 pm EDT

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    Its funny how everyone tries to criticize fedor so harshly. When anderson silva fought hendo...he lost the first round, hands down. But no one criticized him. Yes, AA looked impressive and his speed was better than fedor's. However, fedor was never shaken and did what he always does, which his change game plan and let the other fighter make a mistake. Brains are jus as important as the physical aspect of this sport.
  15. The Unsilent Majority
    15. Posted by The Unsilent Majority Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:01 pm EDT

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    Forget Arlovski's mistake, how about Affliction's mistake of paying him $1.5M to lose in under four minutes? You'd think they would have learned from EliteXC that you can't pay people that kind of money, especially if they're not even going to win.
  16. Gil
    16. Posted by Gil Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:23 pm EDT

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    Brock Lesnar will kick Fedor's but if they fight
    Talk amongst yourselves...lol
  17. Steven W
    17. Posted by Steven W Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:47 pm EDT

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    DA plenty of people criticized anderson when hendo had him down for a whole round.....you just weren't around to read all these posts since you are obviously only here due to the fight this weekend. very interesting and original points you have there, brains are just as important as the physical aspect of mma.......really??? such insight man, thanks.
  18. Ron M
    18. Posted by Ron M Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:12 pm EDT

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    Exactly Silent Majority, that's the bigger picture..How can Affliction stick around if they keep losing money. You can't continue to pay these ridiculous salaries when you ain't making any money.
  19. walter
    19. Posted by walter Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:40 pm EDT

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    i want gina!!
  20. nutcracker
    20. Posted by nutcracker Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:19 pm EDT

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    Boxing is dead! I think any boxer would bend over and fart right in the face of any of these two mma stars. Roach did his job and now people know boxing sucks! Ok I said it and I cant box my way out of a wet paper bag. I am going back to suck off my best freinds dick. Boxing is dead I said that right?
  21. mexxa
    21. Posted by mexxa Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:16 pm EDT

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    you know who else can loose focus and choke?... LESNAR.
    He is a machanine 95% of the time, BUT the rest of the time he looses focus.
    Thats what makes Lesnar Human. I think what makes Fedor human is his average body. I think somone like Lesnar who is focused would beat Fedor.
  22. Rich B
    22. Posted by Rich B Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:19 pm EDT

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    Steve Cofield, have you ever heard of Fedor before last year? Did you really make this statement: "Fedor Emelianenko hasn't really ever come close to losing once in 30 fights. "??? Please watch this youtube clip, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YGoKqz_wC0 and tell us again how Fedor hasn't ever come close to losing. Whoever's in charge around here, please get us some reporters who have at least an ounce of knowledge about the MMA game, before you go posting nonsense like this on the front page.
  23. coperi
    23. Posted by coperi Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:33 pm EDT

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    Well I never write in these comments I just read them, this is my first time posting something... but I will have to agree with "thetruthiswear" also some other people like ViR, Luis and iron_hunk4u have some good insight in my opinion. But I have to say that I have seen Fedor in more trouble than what he was experiencing on this fight for example when he fought Mark Hunt (remember the arm lock) no one knows for sure what would have been the outcome of this last fight but what happened is plain and simple AA lost to a KO. Now I am a Fedor fan but I also recognize fighters like Anderson Silva, GSP, BJ Pen that fight in the UFC and at the same time its hard to believe that any heavy weight in that organization will even have a chance against Fedor by the way I like Mir too but from his fight with Nogueira he wouldn't last long in front of Fedor. Oh yeah and as far as the lucky shot goes Chuck Lidell, Rampage, and others have won fights and titles with these so called "lucky shots"... they count and it is part of mma in my opinion they are just punches just like jabs and haymakers.
  24. Rich B
    24. Posted by Rich B Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:19 pm EDT

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    Steve Cofield, are you serious? "Fedor Emelianenko hasn't really ever come close to losing once in 30 fights." Please do yourself a favor and search for Fedor vs Fujita and come back when you have at least some type of working knowledge of the fighters you are writing about.

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