Andrei Arlovski

Andrei Valeryevich Arlovski (born February 4, 1979), nicknamed The Pit Bull, is a Belarusian mixed martial artist and former UFC Heavyweight Champion, who has also competed for Strikeforce, Affliction, EliteXC, World Series of Fighting, ONE FC, and M-1 Challenge. Arlovski is also the only man to ever knockout Roy Nelson. In the ring, he is known for his extremely fast hands and knockout power. --- Arlovski was born in Bobruisk, Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (now Belarus). When he was younger, bullies often picked on him and beat him up. In 1994, when he was 14 years old, he finally had enough and started lifting weights to put on muscle and, he hoped, to help him deal with these bullies. Andrei only took up martial arts at the age of 16 having previously been interested in football. It was an interest in personal fitness and conditioning that led Arlovski to take an interest in combat sports. Enrolling at the police academy in Minsk, Arlovski combined his interest in a career in law enforcement with his growing martial arts participation by taking up the required police defense course in Sambo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and quickly showed himself to be a highly competent Sambo exponent. In 1999, Andrei won the European Youth Sambo Championship and the World Youth Championship. Not long after, Andrei became the first Master of Sports and then International Master of Sports. He took a silver medal at the Sambo World Cup and another silver medal at the World Sambo Championship. Arlovski began taking a greater interest in other martial arts, studying kickboxing and developing his striking skills to complement his Sambo-based grappling abilities. --- At the age of 20, Arlovski began his professional MMA career at the Mix Fight M-1 in St Petersburg, Russia on April 9, 1999. It was a fairly inauspicious start, losing by KO to Viacheslav Datsik. Not deterred, Arlovski returned in 2000 to M-1 Global at the European Championships, taking the heavyweight crown with a submission victory and a KO victory. Arlovski made his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut at UFC 28, defeating Aaron Brink by submission. He was then thrown in against top opposition, losing to future UFC Heavyweight Champion Ricco Rodriguez and heavyweight contender Pedro Rizzo. Despite those early defeats, wins over future British Cage Rage Light Heavyweight Champion Ian Freeman and future IFL Light Heavyweight Champion Vladimir Matyushenko propelled Arlovski back into the UFC elite. --- Arlovski first movie debut was in the 8 of Diamonds in 2006. He starred in Universal Soldier: Regeneration, along with Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren. In the movie, he plays a "NGU", a new generation UniSol in the main "bad guy" role. The movie was released directly to video on February 2, 2010, in the United States. Arlovski also played a part in the next Universal Soldier movie — Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning, released in theaters on November 30, 2012 and on demand October 25 2012.