Jared Vanderaa collides with Andrei Arlovski at UFC 271. This heavyweight matchup emanates from Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, and goes down on February 12th.
The AllStar’s John Hyon Ko spoke with Vanderaa ahead of his bout with the former UFC heavyweight champion.
Fighting A Legend
Arlovski debuted in the Octagon at UFC 28 in November 2000. The Pitbull is someone who Vanderaa sees as a legendary UFC figure.
“I definitely consider him a legend. Honestly, he wasn’t doing so good for a minute. I don’t know if he switched camps and that’s what’s really helping him. But he turned around and he’s been looking good. What is it? 4-1 in his last five? He beat Carlos Felipe in his last outing (and) he’s close enough to break that top 15 but not there.”
“I feel like Arlovski should be in the top 15 now. He’s been putting up some wins. Now is he beating really hard guys? Maybe, maybe not. The last person he fought and lost to is now a ranked person, Tom Aspinall. I feel like he’s a good one to gauge that top fifteen area.”
The Evolution Of Andrei Arlovski
For someone who has been competing in MMA for close to a quarter-century, there have been several pugilistic permutations of Arlovski.
The style of fight Vanderaa has noticed from Arlovski lately is a bit more of a calculated, economy of movement type of methodology.
“Not to be a jackass, but a lot more conserved. He’s not trying to get into the big brawls. He will do his blitzes and go forward every now and then. He’s not like ahhh I must go in there and kill… I feel like he’s trying to weaponize his cardio.”
“Touching and moving out of the way. Making people chase him instead of getting into big firefights and I think that’s a smart move. Going into this camp, I’m a fan of Arlovski. But everyone I’ve trained with or who knows him says he’s very chinny. He gets knocked out and I’m just thinking. In his last five fights, he has not got knocked out once. The last fight he got knocked out I think was (Jairzinho) Rozenstruik. Rozenstruik went on a tear, dude hits hard, so you call him chinny but the last person to knock him out was a fuckin’ heavy hitter”
Beyond the prowess in the cage, Vanderaa also appreciates the premium chin garden of his stalwart opponent.
“Granted that beard of his though, fucking golden. Pristine. I think that definitely absorbs some shots.”
Sorcerer
Vanderaa’s final prediction for his Arlovski clash began in a normative way and wrapped up in a fairly unorthodox fashion.
“Honestly, I’ve been training for the possibility of it going to a decision. Because I do think he moves well. I’m going winning by decision and it’s not the answer I want to give. Granted I’ve said flying armbars and flying triangles enough. Like okay, I’m repeating myself, not as fun. You know what? Fuck it. I’m gonna do the sorcerer, third round 4:32 in. There, that’s it. The sorcerer, we’re going Tenth Planet on this bitch.”
What are your thoughts on Jared Vanderaa versus Andrei Arlovski at UFC 271?
