Former UFC fighters have a fair few different options of where they want to go after departing the Octagon right now.
A long list of names were scooped up by the Global Fight League ahead of the promotion’s draft that saw former UFC stars like Tony Ferguson and Paige VanZant join the GFL roster.
Another new path has been created with BKFC star Mike Perry launching Dirty Boxing Championship which recently hosted an invite-only debut event.
The first card featured a stunning knockout from Yoel Romero who was also drafted to the Global Fight League under Team Miami.
Now, another former UFC fighter and GFL drafted athlete will compete at Dirty Boxing Championship’s first full event on March 22 in Miami.
Andrei Arlovski set to make his return at Dirty Boxing Championship in Miami
Former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski was drafted to Team Los Angeles during January’s GFL draft.
As is also the case for other signings like Dillon Danis, despite being drafted to the promotion, Arlovski’s next fight will be outside of MMA.
The 46-year-old is tied second for the most wins and losses in UFC history having stepped inside the Octagon a staggering 42 times.
Having previously reigned as the champion (2005-2006) during his first run with the promotion, ‘The Pitbull’ didn’t re-sign with the UFC following a split decision loss to Martin Buday at UFC 303 last year.
After winning four decisions in a row, his time in the UFC ended with four consecutive losses but make no mistake about it, he was still competitive well into his 40s.
Arlovski is now set to debut at DBX 1 on March 22 where he will face Terrance Hodges who has an MMA record of 2-7 having also competed in kickboxing and Muay Thai.
Yoel Romero is set to headline the card once again when he faces off with American heavyweight Ras Hylton having already been announced to be facing Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua in his GFL debut.
Andrei Arlovski will still be competitive in MMA
The GFL have received a lot of criticism for signing fighters that are way past their best and Andrei Arlovski’s record would give that impression.
However, ending his UFC career with four consecutive losses doesn’t show that for many years, he was only beaten by top opponents or contenders that climbed their way up the ladder.
Arlovski’s Team Los Angeles teammate Frank Mir recently underwent emergency surgery before attempting to return to MMA having not competed in the ruleset since 2019.
In Arlovski’s case, he’s a veteran that was still regularly competing at a high level just one year ago so the chances of him doing well in the promotion are fairly high.