Andrei Arlovski talks about how it is competing at the elite level at his current age.
At 40 years of age and two decades of professional fighting under his belt, one would think that Andrei Arlovski may be slowing down. But according to “The Pitbull” himself, his pace has remained the same as it did when he was in his prime.
“My first jiu-jitsu coach, Dino Costeas, told me discipline is remembering what you want,” Arlovski said (via MMA Fighting). “F—k, every day when I wake up, I remember what I want, why I am doing this f—ng over and over at age 40 and one of the oldest guys in the UFC still in this, still going. … It’s just a number.
“You can feel like that [if you want to], but I’m pretty much one of the first guys who comes and pretty much one of the last ones who leave the gym, I have at least two or three workouts a day. So I’m good, I feel good.”
Arlovski is drawing inspiration from some of his contemporaries who remained in the game, even at an older age.
“I have a good example. In boxing, George Foreman became champion at age 46, of course, and Randy Couture, it didn’t matter that he was fighting at 40 years old. Dan Henderson,” he explained. “There’s a lot of guys, so it doesn’t matter. It’s just a number. Age is f—ng just a number. It depends how you feel inside, and I’m a happy guy.
“I love this. I’m doing what I love to do and my wife lets me do what I love to do. She supports me all the time, she’s an [incredible] lady, so I’m a happy person, fighter, and father.”
Arlovksi is set to fight 27-year-old Augusto Sakai this Saturday for UFC on ESPN 3, and he is aware of what he is going up against.
“He’s young, aggressive, still 27, like you mentioned, so I think it’s pretty much my chance to fight someone older than me in the UFC,” he said. “He’s a good striker, very powerful. It’s good. He’s a young stud, [he’ll] push me.”
UFC on ESPN 3 will take place in Sunrise, Florida. It will be headlined by a middleweight fight between Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and Jack Hermansson.