Before Daniel Cormier and Anthony Johnson do battle for the UFC light heavyweight title at UFC 187, and before Vitor Belfort gets his long-awaited shot at Chris Weidman’s UFC middleweight title, two top-ranked heavyweights will square off in a fight that could determine the next challenger for the heavyweight belt.
Former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei “The Pitbull” Arlovski will look to continue his unexpected resurgence when he faces Travis “Hapa” Browne on the UFC 187 main card. Given the current landscape in the UFC heavyweight division, the winner could be poised for a title shot.
Cain Velasquez, the current Baddest Man on the Planet, has been sidelined with a series of injuries for the better part of two years and will finally return to action at UFC 188 next month in Mexico City. He’s been gone for so long that Fabricio Werdum is also the heavyweight champion, albeit an interim champion.
Stipe Miocic made his case for the next title shot with his thorough beatdown of Mark Hunt in Australia a few weeks ago, decimating Hunt for nearly five rounds before finishing him via TKO in the fifth frame. The output and cardio of Miocic might only be rivaled at heavyweight by the champ himself.
Even though Miocic dropped a narrow decision to Junior dos Santos prior to that, the fight was very close, and many thought he should have taken the decision.
Miocic has looked impressive throughout his nine fights in the UFC thus far and might be the guy the UFC goes with against the winner of Velasquez vs. Werdum. Browne and Arlovski have the opportunity on Saturday to stake their claim to the title shot, and an emphatic win for either guy could send them to the front of the line.
For Arlovski, it would be a second chance at glory. He’s been to the mountain top, and 10 years ago, he was the best heavyweight alive. Competing for the title a decade after holding it would be a pretty remarkable accomplishment.
Browne has been in this position before. He has made very few missteps in his MMA career and rebounded as good as one could have after his unanimous-decision loss to Werdum. He dominated Brendan Schaub and put him away in under a round, and a win over his former teammate should certainly put him in line for another title eliminator.
While Velasquez has been out, pretty much all of the other heavyweights at the top of the division have been at least somewhat derailed by a loss. Browne has his loss to Werdum, Josh Barnett lost to Browne, Alistair Overeem lost to Ben Rothwell and dos Santos hasn’t appeared to ever really recover from the third fight against Velasquez.
There isn’t a long line for the title, and there aren’t a lot of people ahead of Browne and Arlovski at the moment. With Velasquez vs. Werdum finally (hopefully) happening, the UFC needs to establish who will fight for the title next. Saturday night is when Brown and Arlovski get the opportunity to make their case.
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