Arlovski vs Rothwell: Appreciation thread for an underrated heavyweight fight.

[Fight Professor]

Sadly he never got the chance before his streak ended. I'm honestly hoping he has one more in him though. It would've been really cool to see a rematch between him and Fabricio Werdum.

Their first fight was about as bad as Arlovski vs Mir.

 

[Kyojiro Kagenuma]

This fight and Arlovski's knockout of Roy Nelson made me consider Arlovski the hardest hitting heavyweight until Ngannou came around.

Yeah Ngannou's a monster.

 

[Kyojiro Kagenuma]

Their first fight was about as bad as Arlovski vs Mir.

Which is why a rematch would have been nice. Since neither really did much in the first.

 

[lukeuidswords]

A little backstory: Arlovski is my favorite heavyweight in history next to the inimitable Cro Cop. Love his style, his personality, everything about the guy. He's fucking awesome and I'll kill you if you disagree.

That being said, I didn't watch his fight with Rothwell back in 2008. I was a dumb kid, and didn't know how to stream affliction I guess. But I was excited, I had been a quad city silverbacks fanboy, and loved Big Ben as well. Arlovski was, well, Arlovski.

I saw the gif of the finish on the forums and let out a cheer at the behest of my fellow Wisconisinite, thinking Arlovski had dominated another skilled fighter. I think this reaction was pretty typical. Most of us didn't, don't, watch many events that aren't Zuffa-sponsored in the post-buyout era. But a sweet heavyweight KO is always appreciated.

Now, on a whim I just watched the full fight:

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And then I had to watch it again. And then I went back and rewound and rewatched bits and pieces for an hour.

Holy fucking shit, this is one of the best heavyweight fights of all time. First of all, rankings-wise it wasn't getting any credit, which was bullshit. Rothwell was coming off a nearly yearlong layoff, but was the IFL champ, on a 13-fight win streak over a lot of (at the time) good names: Rodriguez, Soczynski (twice) and Nelson.

Arlovski meanwhile was fresh of a KO of Jake O'Brien and a UD of Werdum, who despite his awesomeness shouldn't have been ranked higher than these two at the time. Sure it was unenthusiastic, poorly-conditioned Werdum but it's a damn good win nonetheless, and Arlovski should have been ranked a hell of a lot higher than he was at the time.

As for the fight though, holy shit! Both fighters came in well trained and in amazing shape. Rothwell's striking actually looked good!

Arlovski had to rely on his speed advantage at times like this just to survive. (He should've just taken his head off the center line in this gif and not moved back so much, but seeing as he was used to fighting in a cage where that extended circling works better, we can forgive him) And when Arlovski was using that speed advantage to attack, holy shit was it awesome:

I like this gif because Rothwell actually uses smart defensive tactics. He gets beaten to the punch by the faster Arlovski, so he immediately goes to clinch. Arlovski is having none of it and doesn't relent (because, Arlovski is an impeccable puncher and throws dope-ass combos) so Rothwell fights smart, covers up, and lives to fight on. Whereas modern day Browne would start swinging, or modern day Velasquez would shoot a double leg.

Speaking of wrestling, I won't gif the whole thing, but the exchange in the last couple minutes of round two, before the standup at 19:40 in the video, is fucking awesome. 8-9 minutes into the fight, two heavyweight strikers are still fighting-grappling very effectively. No one is able to land much ground and pound, but there are extended positional battles the entire time. I shit on the heavyweights a lot for being unable to grapple, but both demonstrated better-than-decent guardwork and top control in this fight. (even if the leglock attempt was a bit sloppy)

Of course, Arlovski does end up landing two sweet fucking combos, the first of which deserves all the praise we can lavish upon it.

And finishing the fight at the outset of the third.

But here's the thing, it's not just that Arlovski and Rothwell are awesome fighters, but I think this fight is a great showing on both ends. Rothwell looks good everywhere, is in good shape, and is very hard to knock out. Arlovski proves to be a premiere knockout artist by doing that to said hard-to-ko guy, at a time when everyone was seriously doubting him. (Ranked 27th in the world lmao. Fuck that)

Long story short, this fight is fucking awesome, we should all seriously appreciate the fact that these two are some of the best heavyweights on earth. Either or both could be fighting for the UFC title within 1-2 fights. Realistically, Arlovski should be fighting for the title right now. Regardless, war Rothwell, war Arlovski, fuck everything else.

tomorrow night they run it back. 11 years in the making

 

[Gambit MMA]

yea, andrei was beating just about everyone after he left ufc leading to the fedor fight. this rothwell win and the roy nelson stoppage was impressive as hell. a young roy nelson and andrei floored him with a quick combo. dude could have much better record and legacy if he was more consistent.

 

[mkt]

Mate its a waste of a fight

Yeah, it was a good fight around 10 years ago when Part 1 happened. Arlovksi hasn't KO'd anyone in the longest time. Both are past their primes, but Rothwell not nearly as much. Should be nothing but a minor stepping stone for him. I'd much rather see Rothwell vs. Derrick Lewis.

 

[Ying Li]

AA s fights are glorified sparring sessions now. He's lost a few close decisions I thought he should have won.

Ben has been a disappointment too.

Sadly I think this fight is a shitfest with Arlovski backpeddling and outjabbing Ben.

Will watch tho.

 

[Number 8]

Snoozefest or Ben TKOs him in the first.

 

[The_Renaissance]

Its 2019. Nobody needs to watch Arlovski fight anymore, its boring 99% of the time.

Rothwell is done as well, post USADA.

 

[Mixfight]

Their first fight was incredible to watch live from my floor seats. You could literally see Rothwells blood flying around every time Arlovski punched him in the face. This version of Arlovski may be one of the best HWs ever. He was incredibly hard to takedown at that time and had some of the best hands in the sport. He was training with Freddie Roach back then and a regular sparring partner of Andry Ruiz. He was hitting guys with flying knees and knocking out guys with his hands, guys with granite chins like Roy Nelson and Rothwell and it was really exciting every time he fought. Sadly AA is so past his prime his fights are boring because hes constantly in survival mode trying to avoid the next big shot.