MMA Fightline is reporting that Dana White does have plans to re-sign, not resign, well-known fighters Andre Arlovski and Josh Koscheck. Did the recent EliteXC/CBS deal scare Dana White into re-signing fighters that he may have dropped earlier this year? After the news broke that EliteXC has temporarily filled the void of MMA on prime time television, other organizations like the IFL are praising Gary Shaw and his organization for making a move in the right direction. Other guys, like Dana White, are probably not so happy with rival organization. Here’s the full short article.
Amid confusion about the status of UFC fighters Andrei Arlovski and Josh Koscheck, Dana White has recently announced the he plans to resign the two of them. Arlovski’s career has been in limbo since UFC 70 when he last fought to a snoozer decision win over Fabricio Werdum. The Belrusian fighter’s next fight is this Saturday against Jake O’Brien.
Welterweight contender Josh Koscheck who is also on the UFC 82 undercard will also be resigned as well.
“When I want a guy, I’ll get it done,” said Dana White.
About Arlovski, Dana White had this to say, “Andrei’s a guy that I want, so I think we’ll get it done,” he said.
I guess White wanted to get it done now before Arlovski gets a bid from another organization after his final fight on Saturday night. Nothing would make White and the UFC look worse than losing a fighter to the newest contendor on television, EliteXC. It’s bad enough that Arlovski has been patiently waiting to fight again after his decision win over Fabricio Werdum during UFC 70. Although Arlovski did manage to grab the decision over Werdum, fans were not happy with the fight overall as boos echoed throughout the arena in Manchester.
I expect to see other fighters to be re-signed by the UFC before they can be scooped up by rivals EliteXC, IFL, and M-1 later this year. With the IFL premiering their new format tonight on HDNet Fights, MMA fans may finally have a choice when it comes to watching MMA on a weekly basis. Bad for the UFC, good for everyone else.
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February 29th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
Amidst the laundry-list of Dana’s spastic, ego-driven moves, a failure to re-sign Arlovski would be toward the top of that list.
If Arlovski does leave and (maybe) end up in EliteXC, Arlovski/Kimbo?
March 1st, 2008 at 11:39 am
^^ Andrei is as good a poster boy as EliteXC can hope for as far as their heavyweight division is concerned!
This is going to be a really interesting scenario to follow 
March 1st, 2008 at 11:58 am
Very interesting point. The fact is, it may have expedited the signing process, because they felt the need to get them in the cage now, but I think that they would have gotten them both back, it was just a matter of time spent.
I think EliteXC did a great job signing with CBS, but the fact is, they still aren’t really a threat to the UFC, both in the quality of fighter and the quality of production. The UFC roster in many of its divisions has become deep enough and interesting enough that EXC isn’t really much of a challenge, and if EXC continues to hire gimmick fighters like Kimbo to get attention, I feel that the quality of their divisions (especially their meager Heavyweight set-up) will continue to suffer.
Dana White is not stupid, and he knows that if he can’t get Arlovski and Koscheck in the cage, their signing with either M-1, Victory Road or EXC, because their the new big shows, and they’ll offer big money. The fact is, I think that Dana played the superior competition card, and reminded these guys that when fighters leave the UFC, more often then not, the quality of their competition and the long term size of their paychecks drops steeply. It happened to Vlad Matyushenko and a handful of other great fighters, and Dana has said clearly that it will happen to other guys if they leave. While it’s a power play that I don’t really like, it’s very smart.
I think that we should give Dana credit where credit is due, because he put together a great card that, in my mind, is completely overshadowing this EXC deal with CBS. After all, EXC may never have a fight with the quality of competition that Anderson Silva and Dan Henderson have to offer. Instead, they’re giving us Kimbo vs. Tank which, while a little bit exciting, is not nearly the same thing.
UFC 82 makes a point that alot of previous fight cards the UFC has put together haven’t really made, because they haven’t felt the need to, but I’m glad that Dana is finally making this point:
The UFC is still the biggest game in the western hemisphere. Period.
March 1st, 2008 at 12:55 pm
I’m not doubting that the UFC is by far the big bear in the states, but the fact that Elite is making this much noise while not even being in existence for 2 years is impressive.
But if Elite forces the UFC to pay fighters more, produce better cards, re-sign their top fighters even if the ego-troll doesn’t want to, isn’t that what we wanted?
March 1st, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Yea, basically CBS is helping us get what we want. We want better cards, the best fighters, and more events. Dana White may be forced to change some of his plans in ‘08 to meet the needs of a scene that is ready to explode.
March 5th, 2008 at 3:06 am
Arlovski is a bitch if he re-signs with UFC. You can’t treat a man like that. ARlovski, you’re a bitch if you re-sign. No man should put up with being treated that way.
March 5th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
He made $170,000 by beating boring O’Brien. 8 months of training for $170,000 = $255k a year. He made out pretty well, but he should ask for more money and more fights in a shorter period.