There was a time when no one in the UFC wanted to cross paths with Andrei Arlovski. A time when the Belarusian “Pitbull” reigned supreme as the UFC’s heavyweight champion. Those glory days are long gone, but the 37-year old Sambo and boxing specialist hasn’t kissed the dream of another title run goodbye just yet.
“My priority right now, train hard, fight hard and one day be a champion again,” Arlovski said during a short clip of training footage the UFC recently released to promote his upcoming main event fight versus Alistair Overeem at UFC Fight Night Rotterdam. “It’s my second run in the UFC and this might be my last run in the UFC. It doesn’t matter that I was a champion, because I don’t live in the past. I live in the present and look forward into the future. At age 36 I became a smarter person. I became a smarter fighter and I’m right now in the right place for my training camp. Every morning when I wake up in camp, at my house, every time I remember what I want. I want to be champion, so I’m going to do everything possible to reach my goal.”
After a rough stretch of four consecutive losses between 2009 and 2011 — three of them by knockout — coaching mastermind Greg Jackson took the struggling Arlovski under his wings and miraculously reinvigorated his career. After a couple of impressive wins in minor organizations, Arlovski returned to the UFC in 2014, and, four more wins later, was closer than ever to fulfilling his dream of another shot at the title. Heavyweight title challenger Stipe Miocic ended Arlovski’s run when he blitzed him at UFC 195 in January, but the once dreaded 37-fight veteran is far from done.
“I do my job, I train hard and if I did everything right, if it was a good camp, it’s going to be an easy fight”, he predicted.
You can watch the whole video above. UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs. Arlovski takes place this Sunday in Rotterdam, Netherlands’ Ahoy Arena.