It’s going to be a little bit before we see heavyweight Andrei Arlovski in the Octagon again.
As reported on UFC Tonight, the “Pitbull” underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left shoulder last week. Arlovski’s manager Leo Khorolinksy told Ariel Helwani that he will need around six to eight weeks to fully recover from the operation.
In his second stint in the UFC, the 35-year old Arlovski has surprised a lot of people by winning back-to-back fights against Brendan Schaub and Antonio Silva. The latter, which occurred at UFC Fight Night 51 in Brazil in September, was a brutal knockout that signaled Arlovski’s return into the top ten in the division (he currently sits at No. 7 on the media-driven UFC rankings).
Arlovski’s turnaround has been one of the stories of 2014. After losing four consecutive fights between 2009-2011 in Affliction and Strikeforce — three of them via knockout — it looked like the former UFC champion’s days were numbered. Since that time he has gone 8-1-(1), primarily in the World Series of Fighting and now the UFC.