Andrei Arlovski was pressured in the first round, taken down in the second and dropped with a punch in the third rounds of his heavyweight UFC 191 co-main event contest against Frank Mir, Saturday, but still won a unanimous decision from the judges. I’m sure it’s going to be better than the first one.
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Even Andrei Arlovski knew there was no cause for celebration.
“The people around me are keen on wanting this fight to occur. Me?” Arlovski immediately scrambled back to his feet.
Following his win over Duffee in mid-July, Mir was looking forward to a summer vacation – turn down the intensity on training, enjoy a little family time, maybe smoke some cigars – and about with Arlovski appeared to be out of reach.
While there’s no animosity between the two, they’re both eager to finally get it on. “I thought that would have been a much more interesting [story] than just kind of a hurried rush, with both of us at this point of our success”. “But, for Cain to get the immediate rematch, the guy was a great champion, so I give him that opportunity”. In Episode Five, the cameras capture Mir doing some serious ground-and-pound damage to a wrestling mat… and then Criss Angel calling the accomplished fighter a “monster”.
For his part, Mir has breathed new life into his career by winning two-straight after taking a year off and returning to the octagon in February. Now ranked fifth in the heavyweight division, Arlovski could have put himself in line for a title shot in his next outing.
“I still have a lot of respect for Frank”, the heavy-handed Pit Bull says, recalling about between them canceled a decade ago.
Mir regrets that the roar of one of the surging, old lions quiets after Saturday night and wishes the UFC provided him more than a 52-day turnaround from his last scrap. The Irishman regularly interrupted other fighters when they were asked questions, and the majority seemed annoyed by having to hear him proclaim again and again that he was the biggest draw in the sport.
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The Sacramento fighter said she wanted to avoid going to the canvas with Chambers, but kept up pressure while atop her and moved quickly to grab Chambers’ vulnerable right arm, applying the decisive armbar made famous by the UFC’s better-known female champion, Ronda Rousey, 1:01 into the third. The best response to McGregor came from lightweight contender Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, who had been called out by the interim featherweight champion this week. He also mentioned that UFC President Dana White, who was sitting ringside during the event, was probably unimpressed with his performance. Eventually the fight was stood back up.
