Situation with Andrei Arlovski and UFC

There is some strange things going on with Andrei Arlovski, a former UFC Heavyweight Champion from Belorussia. He has a record of 12-5 and many rankings consider him as one of the top10 MMA fighters. His last fight was against Brazilian Fabricio Werdum on UFC70. This bout was already nine months ago on April 21, 2007, but regardless of this win, Andrei Arlovski hasn't fought since, which started all kind of rumours.

The main rumour has been that Dana White wanted to sign a new contract with Arlovski, but Andrei is being too greedy and wants too much money, especially considering his boring performance against Werdum. Therefore UFC decided to put the Belorussian fighter on hold and wait as his marketing value drops all the time. And because Andrei Arlovski still has one fight left in his contract, he really can do nothing but sit down and train, at least until his contract with the UFC expires April 15, 2008. Quite smooth rumour, I must say. But let's look at this rumour in details.

Is Andrei Arlovski greedy? Let's look at the UFC All Access with him.

UFC All Access - Andrey ArlovskiLooking at his life style it seems like he can very easily be true, doesn't it? But hey, we shouldn't forget about the culture factor here as well! In Russian (as well as Belorussian) culture it's not appropriate to show your wealth. Many still think that it isn't even appropriate to be rich, but opinions differ here. But the public opinion is pretty homogeneous about showing one's financial status - it's not appropriate. The situation in the American culture is just the opposite - you are encouraged to show your wealth, even if you don't have it. The result: maybe Andrei truly wants to live rich life - unlike his childhood, but there is quite a chance that he only smoothly markets himself this way. We shouldn't forget that living and negotiating a contract are completely different things and one surely behaves differently in these situations.

Another thing is that Andrei's contract expires in three months and UFC doesn't have much time to organize the last fight they have, especially when fights are usually announced a few months in advance. They surely can't just avoid giving him the last opponents and consider his contract not to be expired like they are now trying to do with Randy Couture (to use Couture's Champion status to indefinitely lengthen the period of the contract regardless of the expiration date in it).

What about the Andrei losing his marketing status? It surely happened and is happening all the time, but the thing is that after Randy Couture left UFC, the Ultimate Fighting Championship need stars like Andrei Arlovski more than ever...

An interesting tidbit was noticed by Luke Thomas from Bloodyelbow.com.

According to an interview with The Fight Network's Loretta Hunt as conducted by Steve Cofield, the reason Arlovski hasn't fought since defeating Fabricio Werdum at UFC 70 isn't because the UFC is "benching" him for a poor or uninspired performance. Hunt is reporting that Arlovski's management has gone on the record as saying Arlovski was offered two opponents since the Werdum fight, but both times the opponent was injured (we can all speculate as to who those fighters may be). So, no healthy opponent, no fight.

So was all the Dana-hate, rumor mongering and analysis all a bunch of sound and fury? Looks that way. Stay tuned.

Can it really be this way? Is it real that all these rumours about a fight over a contract be incorrect as well as all these rumours saying that Andrei Arlovski wants to change the MMA organization he fights for (to M-1 Global, HDNet Fights, others...)? Well, let's just look at the interview with Andrei Arlovski posted not a long time ago (December 8th, 2007).

MMAmania.com: Finish this sentence: I’m currently not fighting in the UFC and I have no immediate fight scheduled because the UFC …

Andrei Arlovski: ... put me on the bench.

MMAmania.com: Do you have contact with other UFC fighters? If so, have they been supportive of your current situation?

Andrei Arlovski: Yes, I do talk with other UFC fighters but I do not discuss my contract or personal business with them.

MMAmania.com: Aside from Tim Sylvia, you haven’t lost since 2002. Do you think the criticisms of Sylvia/Arlovski 3 and Werdum/Arlovski are unfair based on your previous accomplishments?

Andrei Arlovski: First I don’t think the fight with Werdum was bad. I followed my teams instructions to win and Dana had promised me a fight for a title if I won. I was not ready for a jiu-jitsu match and prefer to strike so it went how it did. We looked for a title fight.

MMAmania.com: Give us your take on the Randy Couture situation.

Andrei Arlovski: Couture he is very intelligent and smart fighter. In my opinion, he knows what he is doing.

MMAmania.com: As that story unfolded, was there any point in time when you felt like you could relate?

Andrei Arlovski: I think everyone can somewhat be in his situation.

MMAmania.com: You’ve been in the UFC for years and have been one of its biggest, most bankable stars even before the sport started to explode. Now that it is so big it seems like the UFC perhaps isn’t grateful for your services like Rich Franklin, Matt Hughes, etc. Is there some favoritism going on and does that in anyway affect your desire to want to continue the relationship with the UFC?

Andrei Arlovski: There are a lot of great fighters including myself that have helped this sport grow.

(...)

MMAmania.com: Has the UFC contacted you about challenging for the vacant heavyweight title? Is there any interest in fighting “Big Nog” in the future? How would that go?

Andrei Arlovski: No, they have not contacted me about the heavyweight title or any real fights for that case. Of course I am interested. I want to fight big names and the best fighters. Big Nog is a great fighter with great jiu-jitsu and striking. I am training very hard on my technique in each discipline with great trainers every day. I train to win. I don’t plan on losing anytime soon. I will be heavyweight champion again … very soon. I promise.

MMAmania.com: When does your contract expire in 2008? Will you extend the contract before it is up? Have you been contacted about at least fighting before it’s up? Any idea who are you fighting next?

Andrei Arlovski: It expires April 15, 2008. I have no idea when or who I will be fighting next but hopefully I will know soon.

I'm not sure there is much to comment, but I still will:

• Arlovski directly says that he has been put on hold
  
• Andrei seems to be quite smart (not talking about his contract with others etc)
  
• He says that Couture is a smart guy and knows what he is doing. This could very well mean that Andrei sees leaving the UFC in a Couture's fashion not as a dumb action, but as a smart one (which Arlovski could perhaps also perform?)
  
• He doesn't really answers any tough questions (smart), so there is a lot of reading between the lines here.

Interesting, doesn't it? It gets even more complex and interesting if you look at one other thing. This is what Andrei posted on his official web page in October:

The past months since my win over Fabricio Werdum at UFC 70 have been very productive while I am waiting for my next fight in the UFC. Time off can be positive; it offers me time to rest my body while improving my technique in Boxing, Jiu-Jitsu and freestyle wrestling.

The media, my sponsors and fans have been great. I recently appeared on Jerry Springer as a guest bouncer and it was a lot of fun for everyone. Chicago's MEN'S Book did a feature on my life and living in Chicago, DUB magazine is featuring my lifestyle and cars, and just about all the online MMA sites have been positive towards my goal to become Heavyweight champion again.

I want to thank my fans for their continued support. The messages I receive through myspace.com/arlovski, in the mail and on this site helps me keep focused and are nice to read between workouts.

Keep checking back, BIG NEWS IS AROUND THE CORNER.

A. Arlovski

Now, strangely enough, this news is removed from his site. What does it mean? I don't know. Maybe that "BIG NEWS" are not around the corner or that there is no big news coming at all. My personal prediction (not based on any real inside knowledge) is that we will all hear news about Andrei Arlovski in a near future (within one month or so).