Former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei “Pitbull” Arlovski (15-7), has signed a new multi-fight 16-month contract with Strikeforce. Arlovski broke the news today on his personal website www.arlovski.com. The Belarusian stated, “I cannot wait to get into the ring and show the world what I have been working on the last few months.” The website also mentions Arlovski will hold a live video chat on his website this Friday night, March 5, to discuss the announcement.
Arlovski’s last bout was in June 2009 at “Strikeforce: Lawler vs. Shields” when he fought Brett Rogers. Rogers took him out early in the first round with a barrage of punches. Prior to that, Arlovski was on the losing end of Fedor Emelianenko’s “knockout of the year” in January 2009 at “Affliction: Day of Reckoning.”
Arlovski is expected to fight American Top Team’s Antonio “Junior” Silva (13-2) on May 15 in St. Louis. Silva was on a six-fight win streak before losing a unanimous decision to Fabricio Werdum at “Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers” this past November.
Other than MMA, Arlovski has been working on his boxing. He had an exhibition match for charity with top-10-ranked heavyweight boxer Fres Oquendo, known as “Fast Fres”, this past Saturday night. The statuesque Arlovski has also been acting in some movies recently. Here is an interview with one of the favorite actors of every martial arts fan, Mr. Jean-Claude Van Damme (a.k.a. JCVD). While on the set of their new movie, Universal Soldier Regeneration, Van Damme talks about working with the MMA superstar.