For the first time in six years, Andrei Arlovski will return to the pay-per-view Octagon he once called home.
“The Pitbull” is scheduled to challenge Brendan Schaub on June 14 at UFC 174, promotion officials announced Friday.
A former UFC heavyweight champion, Arlovski (21-10, 1 NC) hasn’t competed in the UFC since exiting the promotion on a three-fight win streak in mid-2008.
Arlovski bounced across the landscape during his time away, fighting for a myriad of major organizations including Affliction, EliteXC, Strikeforce, ONE FC and WSOF, among others.
His career looked to be nearing an end in 2011, when the Belarusian dropped four straight fights against the likes of Fedor Emelianenko, Brett Rogers, Antonio Silva, and Sergei Kharitonov, three of which ended in violent knockouts. However the 35-year-old rebounded to win seven of his next eight fights (one of which, a second-round KO of Tim Sylvia in ONE FC, was overturned into a no contest due to a bizarre rule regarding soccer kicks, which was promptly amended following the bout).
Now revitalized and riding his latest two-fight win streak, Arlovski looks to test himself against Schaub (10-3), who rebounded from a career-worst two-fight slump by picking up consecutive victories over Lavar Johnson and Matt Mitrione in 2013.
UFC 174 takes place at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, Canada. An updated fight card can be seen below.
- Demetrious Johnson vs. Ali Bagautinov
- Rory MacDonald vs. Tyron Woodley
- Ryan Bader vs. Rafael Cavalcante
- Andrei Arlovski vs. Brendan Schaub
- Daniel Sarafian vs. Kiichi Kunimoto
- Yves Jabouin vs. Mike Easton
- Roland Delorme vs. Michinori Tanaka
- Kajan Johnson vs. Tae Hyun Bang