Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is giving former heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski (22-10, 1 NC) a chance to get one back against old Strikeforce nemesis Antonio Silva (18-5-1) in a rematch booked for UFC Fight Night 51, which takes place this Saturday night (Sept. 13, 2014) inside Nilson Nelson Gymnasium in Brasilia. Because … well, I’m not really sure why. It’s not like Arlovski was robbed by the judges following a unanimous decision loss to Bigfoot, which came after three rounds of action at the Heavy Artillery event on Showtime back in 2010.
In fact, I was there in person, and I can’t recall much about their contest. Probably because it wasn’t anything worth remembering. Maybe that was the biggest takeaway from their fight. The Belarusian was in a career nosedive, and needed one of his trademark knockouts to recapture some of the mystique enjoyed inside the Octagon, prior to his disastrous trilogy against Tim Sylvia. No such luck. There was a similar sense of urgency for the Brazilian. Once the ruler of the EliteXC heavyweight roost, Silva had failed a drug test, then came up lame in his Strikeforce debut, losing a 15-minute slap fight against Fabricio Werdum.
Fans and pundits alike were expecting one of these two men to make a statement inside the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri. They made one alright, it was Move along folks, nothing to see here. Silva would move on to capture the biggest win of his career, a technical knockout victory over fading legend Fedor Emelianenko, before floundering across his next six bouts and failing another drug test. Arlovski, meanwhile, rebounded on the regional circuit and put together a 7-1 record (1 NC). Now they’re back and ready to do it all over again.
Bigfoot Silva is fighting Andrei Arlovski again ... and not much has changed since the first time around
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