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MMA isn’t a sport built around records, but when records come up, they frequently center on dominance. Longest win streaks, most knockouts, most submissions and most title defenses are the sorts of feats that get talked about most frequently. For my money, the single most consequential MMA record is most consecutive title defenses because of the difficulty involved in maintaining consistent dominance over one’s division for an extended period of time.
Andrei Arlovski has accrued some records related to dominance over the course of his hall-of-fame career, most Ultimate Fighting Championship wins by a heavyweight and most UFC significant strikes landed by a heavyweight among them. However, Arlovski’s most unique and impressive accomplishments at this point relate not to his dominance but his longevity. He was one of the most feared fighters in the sport at his peak, but feared fighters come and go. How many fighters are ever going to be able to say they were fighting in the UFC 22 years after their first fight in the Octagon, let alone riding winning streaks that deep in?
The first time I recall seeing Arlovski fight was at UFC 36, where he took on Pedro Rizzo. It wasn’t marked by a lot of action before Rizzo suddenly put Arlovski’s lights out in the third round. At the time, there seemed to be nothing remarkable about Arlovski. Pride Fighting Championships was perceived to have the best fighters in the world, and the heavyweight division was Pride’s overriding focus. Arlovski seemed like just an opponent for Rizzo to rebound against following a memorable two-bout series against Randy Couture. With a 4-3 record at that point, Arlovski did not appear to be destined for big things.
Going back to Arlovski’s UFC debut, back prior to the Zuffa purchase and during the Clinton administration, the landscape seems even more distant. Of the 14 fighters on that card, one (John Lewis) would never fight again. Eight would retire by 2011. Another three would retire in 2013, including the now 60-year-old legend Maurice Smith. Arlovski is likely to outlast by over a decade all but two men on that card: Josh Barnett, who hasn’t fought since 2016, and Arlovski’s opponent on that card, Aaron Brink, who you likely aren’t aware was still fighting in 2019 between adult performance gigs (different forms of longevity).
While it is true that heavyweights typically can last longer than fighters in other weight classes by relying on power rather than speed, there are limits. The successful class of older heavyweights from a few years back has largely filtered out of the top ranks of the sport, leaving few heavyweights over 35 towards the top of the division. For Arlovski, it’s not even so much his age as how long and how consistently he has been competing. Every year since he started in 1999, he has fought. That kind of reliability and durability is a rare commodity.
Arlovski’s lengthy career has also been enabled by adaptation. At the beginning of his career, Arlovski was a supreme finisher. The image of a massive, hirsute Arlovski with a vampire mouthpiece separating overmatched opponents from their consciousness is the one that will likely most endure for the man. Arlovski also had a vulnerable chin, so his fights were kill or be killed affairs. Seventeen of his 18 first wins were via finish, as were seven of his first nine losses. If Arlovski continued to fight that way, his career likely would have ended years back. Instead, Arlovski switched things up.
After being finished in consecutive fights by Stipe Miocic, Alistair Overeem, Josh Barnett and Francis Ngannou, Arlovski began fighting more conservatively. He protects his chin, doesn’t overextend and relies on the timing and flow with which he has so much more experience than his opponents. In a marked contrast to the start of his career, his last eight wins have all come via decision, as have four of his last six losses. He has drawn opponents into the sorts of fights he wants to engage in throughout his career, even when he changes his mind on what that is going to look like.
The UFC isn’t presently booking Arlovski, now 43, against high-profile opponents—he faces Jake Collier in the UFC on ESPN 35 co-feature this Saturday in Las Vegas—but given the fact that he has won three straight, five of six and has a big name, that could change soon enough. Even if it doesn’t, just the fact he continues competing at this level is a feat in and of itself. His last three wins were over opponents who were 9, 4 and 7 years old when he first fought professionally. Most of the UFC heavyweight champions from his run are now retired, but still he continues on. Even if competing at a high level for such a long time isn’t his greatest accomplishment, it’s what distinguishes Arlovski the most.