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The Pitbull proved that he still has some bite left in him.
Quick stoppage
Andrei “Pitbull” Arlovski (23-10) stunned the crowd at the Nilson Nelson gymnasium in Brasilia, Brasil when he knocked out the favored Brazilian Antonio “Big Foot” Silva (18-6-1) in the main event of UFC Fight Night 51 last Saturday.
Arlovski stunned Silva with a lead straight right hand midway in the first round and dropped the Brazilian to the mat. He rushed in to land several hammer fists from hell on the fallen Silva’s face before referee Jerin Valel stopped the bout at the 2:59 mark of round 1.
He’s officially back
The victory was the second straight for the former UFC Heavyweight champion in his UFC comeback. He took a controversial split decision win over American Brendan Schaub last June. The Belarusan Pitbull looked tentative and appeared to be flat and hesitant to throw punches against Shaub. Arlovski apologized to the fans after that bout, saying that his nerves got the better of him against Schaub.
Against Silva, the Pitbull was back. When Arlovski’s first punch landed, it was clear that he wanted to take off Silva’s head. He was faster on the exchanges and darted in and out danger. He beat Silva to every punch and it was Big Foot who looked flat. Although he stalked him, Silva looked like he was content to countering Arlovski. But the power in the Pitbull’s punches were too much, even for Silva’s famous granite chin.
Avenging 2010 loss
Although Arlovski never mentioned it after the bout, the win avenges a 2010 unanimous decision loss to Silva while both men were still competing at the Strikeforce promotion.
“I trained hard.” Arlovski said. “This fight was very important. I definitely wanted to knock him out but it was nothing personal.” The fight was important as it gives Arlovski the opportunity to break into the Top 10 of the UFC heavyweight rankings.
Silva was ranked #7 before the fight, and the loss drops him to 0-2-1 in his last three fights. Silva was coming off a nine month suspension for elevated testosterone levels during his bout with Hunt last December. Silva and Hunt fought in an epic five round non-title main event last December which ended in a draw.
The win was Arlovski’s 16th knockout and improves his winning run to 7-1 with one no contest in his last nine fights. Prior to his UFC comeback, Arlovski fought 14 times in seven different promotions. He is definitely home where he truly belongs
