Andrei Arlovski lost to Anthony Johnson on the scorecards. He apparently believes he won something bigger.
Asked about that loss, the former UFC heavyweight champion said, “I’m winner anyway. He’s dead, I’m alive.” The clip was posted on X on Saturday by @HappyPunch, who credited it to @RealDaveGuttman. Johnson, the American knockout artist everybody knew as Rumble, died in 2022.
A thread on r/MMA carried a slightly different rendering of the line, with Arlovski saying he is the winner anyway because Johnson is dead and he is alive. According to that post, Arlovski also said Johnson broke his jaw in two places in the first round, and Johnson went on to win by decision.
View post on X
Spinnin Backfist quote-posted the clip with nothing but a long row of question marks, which is about as clean a summary as anyone has managed. The clip as circulated includes no follow-up or clarification from Arlovski.
For anyone who only knows him from the late part of his career, Arlovski is a big deal in heavyweight history. The Belarusian-American, born in Babruisk in 1979, holds the record for most wins in UFC heavyweight history with 23. He was a decorated sambo competitor before he ever threw a punch for money, and he won the UFC’s interim heavyweight title at UFC 51 by dropping Tim Sylvia with an overhand right and finishing him with an Achilles lock. He has also fought for Strikeforce, WSOF, Affliction, EliteXC, ONE FC and M-1 Challenge.
These days he fights without gloves. Arlovski is the current BKFC heavyweight champion, which means he is a titleholder who will be in front of microphones again, and somebody is going to ask him about this.
The part of his own story that deserves the attention is the detail he volunteered: a jaw broken in two places in the first round, and he kept fighting all the way to the final bell. That is the tough-guy anecdote. The other line is the one people will remember, and it is the one he will be asked to explain at his next BKFC media day.
