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Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Taneo: The beatable Pitbull
By Paul J. Taneo
Free-for-all
Andrei “The Pitbull” Arlovski had won enough fights to develop a growing reputation for being the great hope of the UFC heavyweight ranks, which had lost its shine to the lighter divisions.
Arlovski had amassed six straight wins since Nov. 22, 2002, two by KO, three by TKO and one by submission. Arlovski showed power, strength, technique and personality in holding on to the heavyweight title, which he had taken over during former champion Frank Mir’s long sabbatical after a motorcycle accident caused his leg to be broken.
It should also be noted that Arlovski’s last loss before his string of victories was by way of KO to Pedro Rizzo in UFC 36. Last Sunday, Arlovski was reminded just how glass his jaw is. Tim Sylvia KO’ed Arlovski in 2:43 of the first round to regain the heavyweight diadem in UFC 59 in Anaheim, California.
As if to show just how important a granite chin is in the fight game, Sylvia had survived a killer right by Arlovski before dealing his own brand of punishment. Sylvia got hit by another right hand and got knocked down. He weathered Arlovkski’s finishing attempts and got right back up.
The lesson that eagerness kills can never be overemphasized. Arlovski going for the knockout, unwisely let go of a telegraphed right hand that was countered with a right hook that caught Arlovski on the chin.
The Belarussian fell face first as Sylvia followed him to the ground and from Arlovski’s back pummeled him with rights and lefts to the head. The referee seeing that Arlovski was not defending himself intelligently put a stop to the punishment.
“I was trying to catch him, but Tim this time ended up being quicker and trickier,” Arlovski said in the post-fight interview.
He also admitted later that he “wanted to beat him (Sylvia) like the first time.” Which could mean he planned to take the fight to the ground and go for a submission like in Arlovski-Sylvia I where he won by applying an Achilles lock on Sylvia.
Sylvia relishes his underdog status.
“The same thing happened with Ricco. All week it was déjŕ vu. ‘Tim’s gonna lose. Tim’s not ready for Arlovski.’ I love being the underdog,” Sylvia said in a post-fight interview, referring to the time he beat Ricco Rodriguez in UFC 41 by knockout.
Sylvia also said he is willing to give Arlovski a rematch “even though I knocked him out and he only submitted me.”
Sylvia gave up his heavyweight title after testing positive for anabolic steroids in September 2003 after knocking out Gan “Giant” McGee in UFC 44.
The co-main event of the night was the Tito Ortiz-Forest Griffin light-heavyweight fight.
Ortiz hasn’t exactly learned new fighting techniques since leaving the UFC for a while. In the first 40 seconds of the match, he took down Griffin in his typical ground-and-pound style.
Griffin defended well although he got cut on the forehead and had a mouse under the right eye after disengaging and getting back on his feet.
In the second round, Griffin decided to strike and earned points through punches and low kicks. But Griffin got too kind and stopped hitting Ortiz’s bandaged left leg that Ortiz said he injured while taping The Ultimate Fighter.
That was Griffin’s undoing. Into the third round, Ortiz again took down Griffin to the ground and got him with punches and elbows. Griffin again proved he could escape from a grappler as strong as Ortiz.
Griffin, probably thinking he was behind on points, took the fight to Ortiz in the last half-minute and clearly had won over the crowd which booed after Ortiz was declared the winner via majority decision.
Cecil Peoples had it 29-27 for Ortiz, Hector Hernandez, 29-28 for Griffin and Abe Belardo, 30-27, for Ortiz.
“I was really nervous,” said Ortiz regarding the judges’ scores. “Forrest did an awesome job defending the double (leg takedown).”
(paulotaneo@yahoo.com)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (April 19, 2006 issue)
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