It isn’t as though rumblings of the demise of Andrei Arlovski are uncommon.
But as the Albuquerque-trained fighter and his A-team of Jackson-Wink coaches head into tonight’s main event of UFC Fight Night in Hamburg, Germany, against fellow veteran Josh Barnett, the mission is the same as it’s always been.
The 37-year-old from Belarus is focused on getting back into the UFC’s heavyweight title conversations.
“Andrei’s only two losses on his recent UFC run have been to the current champion (Stipe Miocic), and the current title contender (fellow Jackson-Wink fighter Alistair Overeem, who fights Miocic in the main event of next week’s UFC 203),” said Jackson-Wink striking coach Brandon Gibson. “We believe that Andrei has what it takes to reclaim the UFC title, and our next step is on Saturday night.”
Gibson will corner Arlovski along with Greg Jackson, Mike Winkeljohn and Chicago-based coach Said Hatim.
That team, with special emphasis on the game plan drafted by Jackson, has Arlovski (25-12) confident he will be back in the title picture with a win over Barnett (34-8), another of the veterans in a division that has been as unpredictable as any in recent years.
“He’s tough,” Arlovski said of Barnett. “He’s very dangerous and it’s going to be a very good fight. He’s a very well rounded fighter and has good striking. I’ve trained hard for this fight. I spent a lot of time with my boxing coach, wrestling coach and kickboxing coach. Greg Jackson created a great game plan for this.”
Arlovski, a former champion once known for a much more aggressive style in the cage, has reinvented himself in recent years since joining the Jackson-Wink team. He’s now very much about movement and more calculated striking.
“Andrei has had a great camp, and I believe his speed and footwork will be our biggest advantage towards claiming another victory,” Gibson said.
Aside from where this fight might land either fighter in the heavyweight division’s pecking order, this fight is about much more.
Barnett, like Arlovski, is one of the most accomplished mixed martial arts heavyweights ever. But at 38, he realizes the window for the two to fight is closing rapidly.
“I personally asked for this fight because if it didn’t happen now, I didn’t know there would ever be a chance for it to happen,” Barnett said. “It wasn’t a matter of there being any personal agenda. It just had to do with this being a big fight that the fans want and I would like. This is a legacy fight. You can’t just invent more Andrei Arlovskis to fight. There’s only one. I wanted to have this fight before there was no possibility of it happening.”
Today
UFC Fight Night 93, Hamburg, Germany: Online at UFC Fight Pass. Prelims begin at 9:45 a.m., main card at 1 p.m.
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