I think the UFC has strategically set up the fight between Eilers and Arlovski to build up Arlovski. Eilers looks like a typical big bar room tough guy. It's a perfect matchup to show the skills of an elite fighter like Arlovski against a guy that looks like "Johnny Brawler" to Joe public.
Justin is a credible opponent not some pushover.
Yeah they should build him up, and pay him more than 16k as well. If they lose him to Pride they may as well retire the HW division.
"Justin is a credible opponent not some pushover."
I agree - I just mean to the average casual fan he looks like a big bar room type brawler.
Eilers is no pushover, but he's not really a name that makes people pay attention either. To build up Arlovski, an opponent like Tank, Ken, Kimo, Frye or Goodridge would have been a better choice.
This fight looks like an easy payday for Arlovski, but I will definitely want to see it.
Gary Hughes
"If they lose him to Pride they may as well retire the HW division."
lol @ that. I've said it here like 40 times, but I'll say it again: TUF 2 will have 8 HWs on it, and this time next year the UFC HW division will look just fine
"- Eilers by KO"
You misspelled Arlovski...
"Everytime Dana trys to fix the fights and disrespect fighters by thinking they can't compete with another fighter or vice versa it backfires on him.
Having said that:
- Eilers by KO"
Dana's not fixing anything. Eilers is simply the best available heavyweight due to injuries to other fighters.
And what is this backfiring you're talking about? The vast majority of "buildup" matches have ended exactly the way they were supposed to, and so will this one.
Arlovski by brutal KO in round one, probably in the first minute...
"- Eilers by KO"
You misspelled Arlovski...
I just pissed myself laughing so hard.
Hey guys, check out insidefighting.com now. they have a training day with Andrei.
-Elias
i disagree. I think Arlovski is gonna be a serious threat. If anything I think he's not getting enough credit. He manhandled the old champ, and also walked right through some very credible opponents. Eilers definitely isn't ready for this but who knows. I mean this seems alot to me like when williams fought coleman, nobody thought he had a chance
"Building up" a champ? Nawwww....
I cant wait for them to make Arlovsky a poster boy, then turn around and take him off their site....lol
LOL at the TexArcher comment...that was good.
It would really, really suck if Arlovski ended this fight blinking up at the lights after being KTFO for the third time in his career.
My friend, who has ridiculed me for years for being so into MMA, asked me out of the blue "Who's that werewolf guy with the fangs?" -- apparently he's seeing ads all the time.
TUF 2 stll won't have any HW's that will make the top 10 with in a year same as TUF 1 won't have any LHW's in the top 10, and I love the show.
I like that they have Buentello on the undercard, too. Not only are you building up your champ, you're building up a credible challenger. Excellent call not throwing Buentello into the championship fight right away. In the long term, the way they have things set up now is much better. Now it's up to Eilers to upset those plans. Very interesting fight.
When can we expect to see Frank Mirr back? and what do u think will happen when he and Arlovski face off?
"I'll give my left nut if any one of The Ultimate Fighter "heavyweight contenders" ever becomes a Top 5 heavyweight. "
Eventually Zuffa's cast of fighters will be the show-- there may be other fighters but they are slowly going to create their own guys--their own top contenders.