MMAVu

It’s hard to imagine how far and hard the once feared Arlovski has fallen, in just a short period of time. On Saturday, the former UFC Heavyweight Champion was knocked senseless by the previously unknown Brett Rogers in 22 seconds. Arlovski is only 30 years old, not old by any stretch of the imagination, but his chin, like his psyche, is likely shattered. Previously, he was knocked senseless by Fedor Emelianenko, and one guy can only take so many knockouts before he can no longer take the shots anymore. See: Silva, Wanderlei.

It’s highly possible that Arlvoski took Rogers very lightly, as he had already accepted a boxing match for June 27, a mere 3 weeks after the Rogers fight. That is now out the window. Arlovski is in a strange spot, commanding a high salary, but unable to win the big fights against the big names. We’ll see what’s next for him, but at this point his options are somewhat limited. He will likely be offered an undercard fight next against a middle of the road heavyweight, but is it feasible to pay a guy main event dollars to fight in the middle of the card?

Ever since Affliction 2 was postponed, Josh Barnett was left without an opponent.

Barnett was scheduled to face Andrei Arlovski, on October 11th for Affliction’s second event in Las Vegas, but slow ticket sales put a halt to the card. At the time, consensus top heavyweight, and WAMMA Heavyweight Champion, Fedor Emelianenko was on the shelf.

However, after Affliction 2 rescheduled for January 24th, giving Fedor time to heal up, representatives of the promotion decided to put their two biggest names together, and booked the former UFC Heavyweight Champion Andrei Arlovski against Fedor. Can’t blame them on that front, but it left Barnett out in the cold.

Now rumors have surfaced that former Elite XC top heavyweight contender Brett Rogers could possibly be Barnett’s opponent. While Rogers is 8-0 and has never been taken out of the first round, he has never faced anyone of Barnett’s calibre. Barnett is a tough as nails veteran and one of the top 5 heavies in the world. Rogers would likely be the big underdog in this bout, but don’t tell him that.