Arlovski’s Fine, He Just Enjoys A Little Russian Roulette Sometimes
If perchance you’re unfamiliar with Russian Roulette, read this or rent this.
When former UFC heavyweight champ Andrei Arlovski looks back on 2009, he probably won’t look back fondly. This is, of course, assuming he survives 2009.
Meh, maybe that’s taking a bit too far. After a quick knockout from Fedor Emelianenko in January and an even quicker knockout from Brett Rogers in June, many aren’t sure that the No. 10-ranked heavyweight has a whole lot of buzz left in his saw. Just 13 months removed from ending Ben Rothwell‘s 13-fight winning streak, Arlovski’s star seems to be falling rather than rising.
In an interview with Fighters.com last week, “Pitbull” casually mentioned among comments of wanting to become a boxer instead of a fighter, that he’s been doing a little live-ammo Russian Roulette. Just a smidge. No biggie. Honestly, has a happy person ever played Russian Roulette? Even in Russia, where I’m not convinced there are any happy people, wouldn’t it be safe to assume only the saddest of the sad play Russian Roulette in Russia.
Also, in Russia, is it just called “roulette?” And if so, what is American roulette called? I’m guessing they call it soccer.
“First time I was 16, second time I was 30,” Arlovski said about his history with the Russian bullet game. “It’s when you don’t care about anything.”
Arlovski turned 30 in February, so this little incident happened within the last six months and likely sometime after his loss to Rogers.
For the record, I am not making light of this man’s obvious self-destructive choice to possible put a bullet through his skull. What I will be making fun of shortly is the phone call that Arlovski’s spokesman, Keith Gelman, made to Fighters.com soon after Arlovski’s interview claiming that Arlovski “never contemplated taking his own life.”
That’s a nice try Keith, but unless Arlovski never comprehended what happens if you lose Russian Roulette, it seems ultra likely that he, at the very least, toyed with the idea of shutting it down for good. Arlovski himself said that he didn’t care about anything and that sometime after July he met with a priest. This is life-taking behavior, my man.
I cried a lot after my fights, you know. When I lost to Fedor, I cried. When I lost to Rogers, I cried. You might be surprised, but I had tears a lot in my last relationship,” Arlovski said, referencing his relationship with Playboy model Patrycja “Patricia” Mikula that ended in July 2008.
Arlovski also mentioned in the interview that he’s keen to return to boxing full-time and has been training with Manny Pacquiao‘s legendary trainer, Freddie Roach. But there’s even some tough luck there. First, his MMA trainers understandably aren’t wild about Arlovski’s dalliance with boxing. Second, his June 27 boxing debut was canceled after Missouri’s Office of Athletics issued a 60-day medical suspension after Rogers destroyed Arlovski in 22 seconds. Good decision by Missouri, as entering a boxing ring three weeks after an MMA bout is as smart as jump roping with barbed wire; a game Arlovski clearly isn’t afraid to play.
As important as it is that Arlovski won his round(s) of Russian Roulette, it remains to be seen what he or anyone else is doing to ensure he doesn’t try his luck a third time.
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Photos courtesy of Flickr
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