Andrei Arlovski Bio

Andrei "The PitBull" Arlovski (born February 4, 1979 in Minsk, Belarus) is a Belarusian mixed martial arts fighter and a former Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight champion.

A veteran of the UFC, he holds notable wins over such fighters as former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia, IFL light heavyweight champion Vladimir Matyushenko, IFL heavyweight champion Roy Nelson, Ben Rothwell, former Cage Rage heavyweight champion and current Cage Rage British light heavyweight champion Ian Freeman, and three-time world Brazilian jiu-jitsu champion Fabricio Werdum.

Andrei "The PitBull" Arlovski grew up in Bobruisk, Belarus. When he was younger, bullies often picked on him and beat him up. Before the age of 14 the only sports Andrei had participated in were soccer and track & field. In 1994, he finally had enough and started lifting weights to put on muscle to help him deal with these bullies. Andrei only took up Sambo at the age of 16 after being ordered by his superiors in the police academy.

At the police academy in Minsk, Andrei combined his interest in a career in law enforcement with his growing martial arts participation by taking up the required police defense course of Sambo, and quickly showed himself to be a highly competent Sambo exponent. In 1999, Andrei won the European Youth Sambo Championship and the World Youth Championship. Not long after, Andrei became first Master of Sports, and then International Master of Sports. He also took a silver medal at the Sambo World Cup and another silver medal at the World Sambo Championship.

Andrei began taking a greater interest in other martial arts. At the age of 18 he began studying kickboxing and developing striking skills to complement his Sambo based grappling abilities under legendary kickboxer Dmitry Stepanov. There Andrei met Andrei Dudko, US K-1 Champion, and became his training partner.

At the age of 19, Arlovski began his professional MMA career at the Mix Fight M-1 in St Petersburg, Russia in April of 1999. It was a fairly inauspicious start, losing by knock out to Viacheslav Datsik. Not deterred, Arlovski returned in 2000 to M-1 at the European Championships, taking the heavyweight crown with a submission victory and a knock out victory.

Andrei Arlovski made his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut at UFC 28: "High Stakes", defeating Aaron Brink by submission. He was thrown in against top opposition early on in his UFC career, taking tough losses against future UFC heavyweight champion Ricco Rodriguez and heavyweight contender Pedro Rizzo. Despite those early defeats, notable wins over Ian Freeman and Vladimir Matyushenko propelled Arlovski back into the UFC elite.

The motorcycle accident injury suffered by UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir in 2004 led to the creation of an "interim heavyweight title". It was decided that the two top heavyweight contenders would meet to declare the interim champion. On February 5, 2005 at UFC 51, Andrei would face the former heavyweight champion, Tim Sylvia. The two competitors were well known for their hard hitting style, with Sylvia having won ten of his last twelve fights by KO or TKO. Andrei showed greater mobility and accuracy when striking. He connected with an overhand right and dropped Sylvia, following up with an ankle lock on the ground that forced Sylvia to tap out at 47 seconds of the first round, making Andrei "The PitBull" Arlovski the new UFC interim heavyweight champion.

Andrei defended his interim title on June 4, 2005 at UFC 53: Heavy Hitters, against Justin Eilers. He won the bout via TKO by strikes in the first round. After the fight, it was revealed that Justin Eilers suffered extensive injuries in this match including a badly broken nose, two broken hands and a complete ACL tear.

In October Andrei once again defended the interim heavyweight title at UFC 55: Fury, against top contender Paul Buentello. He knocked Paul out in 15 seconds of the opening round. On August 12, 2005, the UFC announced that it now recognized Andrei "The PitBull" Arlovski as the UFC Undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World.

Andrei left the UFC in 2008 after completing his contract with a record of 9-4 and an overall MMA record of 13-5.

Later, it was officially announced Andrei Arlovski had signed a 3-fight contract with Affliction. He participated in their first fight card "Affliction: Banned" on July 19 in Anaheim, California. Andrei faced former IFL heavyweight standout Ben Rothwell who was riding a 13 fight win streak and was ranked by Sherdog as the #10 best heavyweight fighter in the world. Andrei won the bout by KO.

On October 4 at the Bank Atlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida in the aired live on CBS event promoted by EliteXC, Andrei fought IFL Heavyweight Champion Roy Nelson and earned a victory via KO.

Andrei currently lives and trains in Chicago, but regularly goes out to LA to train with boxing coach Freddie Roach and strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza. In Chicago he constantly works with his long time boxing coach Michael Garcia at his gym called "JABB", and his strength training is supervised by Tim Allegetti at "West Loop Gym". Since Andrei's first visit to Chicago, for the last 8 years he has been training in jiu jitsu with Dino Costeas at "POW".

In 2006 Andrei was introduced to Sean Bormet and John Kading and began training in wrestling at "Overtime Training Center". In the fall of 2008, Andrei teamed up with "Overtime" to create "Andrei Arlovski's Overtime MMA Training Center the home of Team PitBull".