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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Andrei Arlovski has his opponent for the return event from ProElite next month, as MMAFighting.com reports that he will meet 5-2 heavyweight Ray Lopez on the August 27 card in Hawaii.
Arlovski enters the event on a four fight losing streak. The former UFC Heavyweight Champion left the organization on his own terms after a three fight winning streak, and added two more wins in Affliction and EliteXC before booking his most lucrative career fight.
At Affliction's second pay-per-view event, Arlovski earned a paycheck of $1.5 million for his main event fight with Fedor Emelianenko. Unfortunately, after posting an impressive first three minutes against "The Last Emperor," Arlovski leapt into an overhand right that knocked him out cold, and started his current slide.
A 22 second loss to Brett Rogers was followed up a year later by a decision loss to Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva, and then he added a first round knockout loss to Sergei Kharitonov in February. That marked three vicious knockout losses in his last four fights, and the outcry for him to retire has swelled since the Kharitonov loss.
He'll try to reverse the slide against Lopez, who is entering this event off a quick knockout win in his last fight at a King of the Cage event. He's won four of his last five fights, and has competed in boxing professionally as well, though he holds just a 3-4 record in that sport.
The August 27 ProElite event takes place from the Neil Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, and will also feature UFC vet Kendall Grove as well as Reagan Penn, younger brother of multi-time UFC Champ B.J. Penn.
Penick's Analysis: There is still nothing but concern about his Arlovski's chin, and against a guy with the power in his striking to put him out this could turn out bad for the Belarusian. That said, Lopez isn't anywhere near the fighter that has defeated Arlovski over the last two and a half years, so against a step down in competition Arlovski may find a way to pick up his first win since 2008.
[Andrei Arlovski art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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