Tag: Andrei Arlovski

Antonio Silva vs. Andrei Arlovski: Keys to Victory for Both Fighters

More than four years after they met under the Strikeforce banner in May 2010, Antonio Silva and Andrei Arlovski are set to clash in the main event at UFC Fight Night 51.
Without a win in his past two outings, Silva will battling to retain his Top 10 po…

More than four years after they met under the Strikeforce banner in May 2010, Antonio Silva and Andrei Arlovski are set to clash in the main event at UFC Fight Night 51.

Without a win in his past two outings, Silva will battling to retain his Top 10 position in the heavyweight rankings. Although Bigfoot has only lost to champion Cain Velasquez since joining the UFC roster, he disappointed by failing his drug test following a draw with Mark Hunt in December 2013.

In his return to the Octagon three months ago, Arlovski bested Brendan Schaub in a controversial decision. While the victory moved the former UFC champion into the Top 15, it wasn’t an overly impressive performance, as he only managed to land 12 significant strikes.

As this notable bout between veteran heavyweights approaches, here is a look at what both men need to focus on during Saturday’s contest in Brasilia, Brazil.

 

Antonio Silva: Work From the Clinch and Keep Andrei Arlovski Guessing

Silva had some success with his striking in the first meeting between these two heavyweights, but his easiest route to victory this weekend will definitely be in the clinch and on the ground.

During his rough Strikeforce career, Arlovski’s chin came into question. However, the Belarusian has not been stopped in eight consecutive outings now. Arlovski can still take a punch, and he’s too dangerous of a striker to trade punches with in hopes that he’s the first to fall.

Around 25 pounds heavier than Arlovski, Silva will be at a big advantage when he works inside and secures the clinch. From there, the Brazilian can rough Arlovski up along the fence and mix in takedowns. Silva should base all of his offense in this matchup around the clinch.

Bigfoot should be able to muscle Arlovski around against the cage wall, and he has the power to hurt his opponent from in tight. Because Arlovski can’t get complacent when defending against Silva’s dirty boxing, Bigfoot should also be able to score a few easy takedowns from the clinch.

With devastating ground-and-pound along with zero submission losses, Silva has nothing to lose by going to the canvas. At worst, he’ll rack up control time there and can win rounds from the top position. 

 

Andrei Arlovski: Be a Moving Target and Focus on Countering

Arlovski didn’t look very good in any area when he met Silva during May 2010. Still, one would think he should have an advantage in technical striking should he bring the right approach.

Last time around, Arlovski regularly allowed Silva to back him down, and he paid for his lack of lateral movement once he ran out of room. On Saturday, Arlovski will need to be smarter about controlling the center of the Octagon and avoid standing still as Silva comes forward with his heavy straight punches.

The quicker fighter, Arlovski needs to turn this into a boxing match and keep Silva away from him. Superior footwork and well-placed counters will discourage Silva from pressuring him.

Silva’s been knocked out four times and Arlovski has recorded seven knockout wins inside the Octagon, so it’s not out of the question for the former UFC heavyweight titleholder to upset Bigfoot with one punch. It will take a much smarter game plan than Arlovski had in his last bout with Silva, though.

With Greg Jackson in his corner, that’s definitely a possibility.

 

Statistics via FightMetric.com

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Andrei Arlovski Blasts Alistair Overeem Following Injury to UFC Champ Jon Jones

Alistair Overeem isn’t a popular guy lately.
Not that he’s ever won a popularity contest with MMA fans, but Overeem has left fans with a sour taste in their mouths following the news that he injured UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones in preparati…

Alistair Overeem isn’t a popular guy lately.

Not that he’s ever won a popularity contest with MMA fans, but Overeem has left fans with a sour taste in their mouths following the news that he injured UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones in preparation for Jones’ fight against Daniel Cormier at UFC 178.

Although the injury was pegged as accidental by nearly everyone involved, former UFC heavyweight champ Andrei Arlovski believes differently. He spoke with Sports.ru, and the interview was translated by MixedMartialArts.com (h/t Bloody Elbow).

“Now I know that Overeem injured Jon Jones simply because he injures everyone he trains with,” Arlovski said.

Arlovski shared his own story about how “The Reem” sent him to the hospital following a round of sparring:

Couple of days ago I sparred with Overeem and learned such outcome by my own experience. Usually sparring partners don’t try to inflict a real damage to each other. But Overeem at one moment kneed me really hard in the stomach. In a real fight I could have been KO’ed after that.

I rushed to a hospital to make sure that my ribs are not broken.

Luckily, Arlovski wasn’t seriously injured, and his scheduled fight against a returning Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva will go down as planned.

Arlovski’s statements echo those made by Overeem’s former training partners at the Blackzilian camp in Florida. According to Bloody Elbow’s Karim Zidan, Gilbert Burns claimed Overeem was arrogant and left after blowing out the knee of Guto Inocente during their training sessions.

The injury to Inocente was also caused by an Overeem takedown.

Another former teammate, Anthony “Rumble” Johnson said virtually the same thing as Arlovski, per Fighters Only‘s Nick Peet (h/t MMA Mania). The surging light heavyweight contender said if UFC matchmaker Joe Silva offered him to fight Overeem, he’d do it in a heartbeat.

Overeem did have a very public fallout from the Blackzilians so it’s to be expected that they might not have the nicest things to say about him. But it’s an entirely different matter when those kind of statements come from Arlovski, a current member of the Jackson’s MMA team.

Former opponent and now teammate Travis Browne has already set the law down on what he (and likely the rest of the team) expects from Overeem joining their ranks.

Of course accidents happen all the time during training, and knee injuries are common during grappling sessions. But Overeem has been in the game long enough to know his own strength, his limits and how to conduct himself in a professional manner behind closed doors.

He’s had a negative reputation for years from fellow fighters and fans. Outside of eliminating world hunger, it’s not likely to change.  The only one who knows if the incident was completely accidental is Overeem, and he will likely continue with the “it was an accident” story.

Accident or not, injuring the best fighter in the world—the face of the Jackson’s MMA and one of the few major marketable stars currently in the UFC—isn’t the way to endear yourself to the promotion or your new teammates.

 

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

The 21 Best Accessories in MMA History


(Alistair Overeem wielding Mjolnir / Photo via Getty)

Sometimes fans need more to remember a fighter by than just a performance or a gimmick. They need an accessory to associate that fighter with–and the very best fighters understand this and know how to accessorize.

We brainstormed at Castle CagePotato as to what accessory was the greatest of all time. After several thought-sessions ended in magic ice cream binges and Martin Luther cosplay sessions, we decided to just list off all the best ones rather than just decide which one among them was the best:

1. Fedor Emelianenko’s sweater.

2. Donald Cerrone‘s cowboy hat.

3. Khabib Nurmagomedov‘s Dagestani hat.

4. David Rickels’ caveman club and dinosaur.

Get the rest after the jump!


(Alistair Overeem wielding Mjolnir / Photo via Getty)

By the CagePotato Staff

Sometimes fans need more to remember a fighter by than just a performance or a gimmick. They need an accessory to associate that fighter with–and the very best fighters understand this and know how to accessorize.

We brainstormed at Castle CagePotato as to what accessory was the greatest of all time. After several thought-sessions ended in magic ice cream binges and Martin Luther cosplay sessions, we decided to just list off all the best ones rather than just decide which one among them was the best:

1. Fedor Emelianenko’s sweater.

2. Donald Cerrone‘s cowboy hat.

3. Khabib Nurmagomedov‘s Dagestani hat.

4. David Rickels’ caveman club and dinosaur.

5. Rampage Jackson’s chain.

6. Alistair Overeem‘s old sledgehammer.

7. Kimo Leopoldo’s cross.

8. Fedor’s humble, wooden crucifix necklace.

9. Andrei Arlovski‘s fang mouthpiece.

10. Miesha Tate‘s Brian Caraway.

11. Kimbo Slice’s real gold version of a dollar store novelty boxing glove chain.

12. Tim Sylvia’s backwards Warrior Wear hat he wears in every other picture.

13. King Mo’s crown.

14. King Mo’s umbrella.

15. King Mo’s harem.

16. Mirko Cro Cop’s flag shorts.

17. Shinya Aoki’s tights.

18. Dan Hardy’s bandanna.

19. Marcus Brimage’s Dragon Ball Z scouter.

20. Rich Franklin’s brown and pink obsession.

21. Ronda Rousey‘s personal assistant (his name is Dana White or something).

UFC Booking Roundup: Alistair Overeem vs. Ben Rothwell, Andrei Arlovski vs. Bigfoot Silva 2 Added to September Cards


(“You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.”)

Dana White might insist that he’s not trying to compete with Bellator on September 5th — but the UFC is making damn well sure that its Connecticut card will be worth watching. In addition to Gegard Mousasi vs. Ronaldo Souza 2 being confirmed as UFC Fight Night 50’s main event, the following matches have also been added to the FOX Sports 1 card…

– Alistair Overeem vs. Ben Rothwell: Coming off a redemptive win against Frank Mir in February and a layoff for elbow surgery, Overeem will take on fellow heavyweight Ben Rothwell, who will be competing for the first time since his August 2013 TKO of Brandon Vera and subsequent nine-month suspension for elevated testosterone. (Again, UFC Fight Night 50 is taking place on an Indian reservation, so Overeem and Rothwell probably won’t have to deal with any inconvenient random drug tests before the match.)

– Matt Mitrione vs. Derrick Lewis: Mitrione was supposed to compete at last weekend’s UFC 175 event until his opponent Stefan Struve collapsed in the locker room and was pulled at the last minute. “Meathead” has now been re-scheduled against Derrick Lewis — better known as “The Black Beast” — who has gone 2-0 in the Octagon so far, with both wins by first-round TKO. Lewis most recently finished Guto Inocente at the TUF 19 Finale. I smell a slugfest.


(“You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.”)

Dana White might insist that he’s not trying to compete with Bellator on September 5th — but the UFC is making damn well sure that its Connecticut card will be worth watching. In addition to Gegard Mousasi vs. Ronaldo Souza 2 being confirmed as UFC Fight Night 50′s main event, the following matches have also been added to the FOX Sports 1 card…

– Alistair Overeem vs. Ben Rothwell: Coming off a redemptive win against Frank Mir in February and a layoff for elbow surgery, Overeem will take on fellow heavyweight Ben Rothwell, who will be competing for the first time since his August 2013 TKO of Brandon Vera and subsequent nine-month suspension for elevated testosterone. (Again, UFC Fight Night 50 is taking place on an Indian reservation, so Overeem and Rothwell probably won’t have to deal with any inconvenient random drug tests before the match.)

– Matt Mitrione vs. Derrick Lewis: Mitrione was supposed to compete at last weekend’s UFC 175 event until his opponent Stefan Struve collapsed in the locker room and was pulled at the last minute. “Meathead” has now been re-scheduled against Derrick Lewis — better known as “The Black Beast” — who has gone 2-0 in the Octagon so far, with both wins by first-round TKO. Lewis most recently finished Guto Inocente at the TUF 19 Finale. I smell a slugfest.

– Charles Oliveira vs. Nik Lentz 2: According to Fox Sports’ Damon Martin, the two featherweights have been booked for a rematch of their UFC on Versus 4 fight from June 2011, which was chuggin’ along pretty well until Oliveira KO’d Lentz with an illegal knee. The fight was declared a no contest, but still won Fight of the Night. Oliveira remains one of the most exciting young talents at 145 pounds, and won Performance of the Night bonuses in his last two appearances, for his submissions of Andy Ogle and Hatsu Hioki. Lentz is coming off a decision win against Manny Gamburyan at UFC Fight Night 40: Brown vs. Silva in May.

In a related story, a heavyweight rematch between Andrei Arlovski and Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva has been booked as the main event of UFC Fight Night 51, September 13th at the Ginásio Nilson Nelson in Brasília, Brazil. It’ll be Silva’s first appearance since his Fight of the Year candidate against Mark Hunt last December, and subsequent nine-month suspension for elevated testosterone. (Damn, is there an echo in here?)

Arlovski, of course, last stunk up the joint against Brendan Schaub at UFC 174, winning a split-decision in a fight that nobody really won. When asked why he would book Arlovski for a main event after such a flat performance, Dana White explained:

“I was disappointed in both of their performances. It doesn’t mean the guys are never going to fight again. I just let them know how I felt. The fight sucked. I’ve got Schaub hitting me up telling me that he got robbed. I’m like, ‘No, we got robbed’…Guys have bad nights. It’s not like I hate Brendan Schaub or Andrei Arlovski because of it. I just hated that fight.”

To put it another way: It’s a Fight Pass card in Brazil, against a Brazilian — so let’s not pretend that Arlovski is being rewarded for his efforts.

Arlovski and Silva previously met at Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery in May 2010, with Bigfoot winning a unanimous decision.

UFC 174 Snapchat Contest: The Winners!

In a way, we picked a great event to kick off our semi-recurring Snapchat contests, since most of you spent UFC 174 bored off your asses and looking for a way to pass the time. As promised, we’re giving away packs of Topps’ UFC Knockout 2014 cards to the best three snaps sent to cagepotatomma during the fights…

First place: girafarig, who sent us some amazing illustrations of the night’s winners, laid on top of her own face/body. Damn gurl, you killed it. We’re going to send you two packs of Knockout cards for your efforts. In fact, I’d like to post all of girafarig’s entries before we go any further…

In a way, we picked a great event to kick off our semi-recurring Snapchat contests, since most of you spent UFC 174 bored off your asses and looking for a way to pass the time. As promised, we’re giving away packs of Topps’ UFC Knockout 2014 cards to the best three snaps sent to cagepotatomma during the fights…

First place: girafarig, who sent us some amazing illustrations of the night’s winners, laid on top of her own face/body. Damn gurl, you killed it. We’re going to send you two packs of Knockout cards for your efforts. In fact, I’d like to post all of girafarig’s entries before we go any further…

Second place: pinkdildoranger (aka Harry Sanderson) shouting out our new favorite sponsor…

Third place: shmaldy, with his sad Jimmo tribute…

Great work, gang. I will message all three of you with instructions on how to claim your prize.

DISCLAIMER: galliesp and Smokey5000 also sent in amazing snaps that were probably prize-worthy, but I wasn’t able to screencap ‘em before they expired. I’m still getting the hang of this thing, guys. But in the future, please set the expiration time for like 20 seconds, at least.

TWO HONORABLE MENTIONS THAT MADE ME LOL….


(rockitawkwardly)


(xdparkerx)

And bvjarvis? Thanks man. You know why ; )

UFC 174 Update: Brendan Schaub’s Blown-Up Face Wasn’t as Bad as It Looked



(Photos by Anne-Marie Sorvin-USA TODAY Sports, via MMAJunkie)

Brief summary of Brendan Schaub‘s experience at UFC 174 on Saturday: He out-works Andrei Arlovski on the feet and and the ground during one of the least entertaining fights of the year, then somehow loses a decision and leaves the Octagon with his jaw swollen up like Quagmire. On the bright side, doctors will not have to amputate.

Schaub confirmed late Saturday night that he was medically cleared before he left the arena, and his only serious injuries were psychological ones. (Schaub will be sharing his thoughts about the fight on today’s installment of his podcast, so keep an ear out for that.) Meanwhile, Andrei Arlovski isn’t exactly in a celebratory mood either. After the fight, the Pitbull lamented his performance and tried to explain why it was so flat:



(Photos by Anne-Marie Sorvin-USA TODAY Sports, via MMAJunkie)

Brief summary of Brendan Schaub‘s experience at UFC 174 on Saturday: He out-works Andrei Arlovski on the feet and and the ground during one of the least entertaining fights of the year, then somehow loses a decision and leaves the Octagon with his jaw swollen up like Quagmire. On the bright side, doctors will not have to amputate.

Schaub confirmed late Saturday night that he was medically cleared before he left the arena, and his only serious injuries were psychological ones. (Schaub will be sharing his thoughts about the fight on today’s installment of his podcast, so keep an ear out for that.) Meanwhile, Andrei Arlovski isn’t exactly in a celebratory mood either. After the fight, the Pitbull lamented his performance and tried to explain why it was so flat:

“I still feel like really horrible and um…it’s good that Dana White’s not here because he’s probably so pissed at me. He gave me great opportunity. I didn’t like my performance, my fight tonight. But for some reason I [was] nervous a lot, like you know, before the fight when I step inside the Octagon, my legs, my hands, like shook for some reason. I [was] just nervous, like [my] first time when I fought back fourteen years ago almost. But next time I promise it’s gonna be much better.”

Speaking of Dana White, the UFC president expressed his own regrets after the fight, wondering why he didn’t stick it on the prelims. But hindsight is 20/20, right? This fight had the potential to be a slugfest, just like every other fight on the UFC 174 main card. It just didn’t work out that way. On the bright side, only the most hardcore, devoted, and bored UFC fans were even watching this PPV in the first place. Schaub vs. Arlovski may be the most forgettable fight of the year, which is good news or bad news, depending on how you look at it.