Former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski is slated to make his One FC debut at the promotion’s “Pride of a Nation” event on Aug. 31 in the Philippines.
It will come against a different opponent than originally expected, however. Arlovski was expected to square off with Sao Palelei at One FC 5, but a recent shifting of gears now has him facing fellow former UFC champion Tim Sylvia, according to MMAWeekly.com sources.
Arlovski (17-9) has had a rough go of it since exiting the UFC in 2008. He started off by winning back-to-back bouts, but then embarked on a four-fight skid that left him searching. He has since rebounded with two recent victories before signing with One FC.
Arlovski was originally set to face Palelei, but the Australian tweeted that he would no longer be facing Arlovski because One FC wanted him to sign a five-fight contract and he refused.
In enters Tim Sylvia.
Sylvia (31-7) was recently in talks to face Daniel Cormier, but that fell apart when Strikeforce decided to put Cormier against another former UFC heavyweight champion in Frank Mir.
Now, Sylvia will head overseas for a fourth fight with Arlovski. Sylvia lost their first bout, but won back-to-back fights against the Belarusian at UFC 59 and UFC 61.
Sylvia is currently in the midst of a three-fight winning streak and has won seven of his last eight bouts.
Arlovski and Sylvia will fight on the One FC 5: Pride of a Nation fight card on Aug. 31 in Quezon City, Philippines.
Bah I'm not excited but I am willing to say that these 2 fighters could be picked up for pennies on the dollar one would think.
I'm thinking if Morcraft, Jonson, Russow and a few others can be called worthy of the UFC brand, why not Arlovski and Sylvia?
Funny part is they would bring in more interest than quite a few of the fighters at the bottom. Have them fight mid level fighters that match up stylistically after a win or two maybe you do Struve vs Arlovski or Sylvia vs Kongo undercard or on fox idk.
I just think he could use them and if you're better than the last place HW in the UFC and the price is right, then he should be out and you should be in.
I'm sure the UFC wouldn't want to pay these guys more then 50,000 a fight. These guys are probably getting double that or maybe 50% more. Either way I think these guys will go to the promotion paying them more and unlike Bob Sapp maybe get another title.
Meanwhile Andrei looks like he always has - impressive shape. I hope his confidence and chin won't let him down. There's a whole series of videos uploaded by Pitbull showing his training camp, medical exams etc.
"He is a dick," Arlovski told MMAFighting.com in an interview from Manila. "Normally I respect my opponents, but I do not respect him."
...
"When I found out I was fighting Tim Sylvia it was the best day of my life," Arlovski said. "I don't like him, I don't respect him and I will have no problem kicking him in the head and stomping on his body. It will be fun.
"I do not need motivation to fight pee pee mouth. I do not want to beat him by decision or submission. I want to knock him out."
Is this tonight? if so il be well excited when i get back from work!! For some reason i think Sylvia looks better with a bit more to him not mass amounts, i thought he looked too skinny for his own good towards the end of his UFC run.
Lol what the hell, wheres this org. based? I guess ive missed it, or its just starting or something, i was expecting it to be an early morning one (for me)
but they seem to indicate that the second kick wasn't light. The problem is you are supposed to wait for the ref to approve to kick a downed opponent. Odd rule...
It's a fukcing retarded rule is what it is. Make soccer kicks legal, but expect the fighters to stop, await permission to attack, and then proceed to finish? Completely asinine. Either make the attacks legal or make them illegal.
What is this shit? You hurt your opponent, going for the kill and they expect you to wait for a permission to do that? I'm going to use the contact us option on their website to tell them to f**k themselves.
soccer kicks rule. I mean imagine if shogun could have thrown a few in the vera fight...
I know soccer kicks are dangerous but i just think its makes mma a little more "real life". Obviously, it is a sport and there needs to be precautions.. I dont disagree with not having them but im definitely in favor of having them!
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