Affliction Entertainment Releases Andrei Arlovski

The releasing of Andrei Arlovski (15-7, #10 IWMMAR ) by Affliction Entertainment may come as a shock to those who still believe that Arlovski is one of the best fighters in the world, but with back-to-back losses, Affliction has decided to sever their ties with the former UFC heavyweight champion.

Arlovski is a well respected warrior by many MMA fans, but his recent association with boxing coach Freddie Roach (who was, perhaps, a little too open in talking down about Fedor’s striking) has annoyed many MMA fans and commentators, and his straying from the charismatic, clever and humble warrior that he was over the course of his UFC career.

Arlovski’s recent losses have not been to unrespectable opponents. He lost what may be the most significant bout of his career to Fedor Emelianenko (30-1, #1 IWMMAR ) in Affliction, and in Strikeforce, Andrei suffered a surprise defeat to Brett Rogers (10-0 #9 IWMMAR ) . The loss to Rogers is far more damaging, because of how quickly it came, and it is almost certainly the reason why Affliction decided to release Arlovski. Everyone loses to Fedor Emelianenko, but as the first major heavyweight to lose to Rogers, going out in twenty-two seconds damaged his credibility.

That aside, Arlovski was one of the highest paid fighters in the world, making $1,500,000 in defeat against Fedor and $750,000 for defeating Ben Rothwell in their first event. It is certainly a contract that was worth a lot, at one point, to the executives at Affliction, but has become too costly to maintain.