MMAVu

In a bit of a surprise move (since I didn’t know Arlovski’s contract wasn’t exclusive, and he was very recently tabbed for an Affliction event) former UFC Heavyweight Champion Andrei Arlovski has announced he is taking on the now-defunct IFL Heavyweight Champion, Roy Nelson on EliteXC’s October 4th card on CBS.

This comes after the disappointment of Affliction’s October 11th bout going down the tubes due to slow sales and a “restructuring” of the card.

Elite XC’s head of the Live Fight Division had this to say:

This is yet another testament to EliteXC’s willingness to work with other MMA promotions to bring the best possible fights to the broadest possible audience. Special thanks to the hard working-team at Affliction and of course our partners at CBS and Showtime.

Arlovski is coming off an impressive win over another IFL fighter Ben Rothwell, where he snapped Rothwell’s 13 fight undefeated streak. This is without question the biggest challenge ever in Roy Nelson’s career, though Nelson has always been regarded as a very good fighter. A win over Arlovski would validate those assessments.

This is a huge, huge boost for Elite XC and a real coup on their part. Their line-up is even more star-studded than before, and they’ll need every bit of it to drive up their ratings after their 2nd show took a bit of a nose dive. Here’s their finalized line-up:

Main Event:
Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock

Main Card:
Jake Shields vs. Paul Daley (for EliteXC welterweight title)
Andrei Arlovski vs. Roy “Big Country” Nelson
Gina Carano vs. Kelly Kobold
Murilo “Ninja” Rua vs. Benji Radach