5 UFC legends who hung on for too long

#4 Andrei Arlovski

Andrei Arlovski remains on the UFC's roster despite being far past his prime

This piece is about fighters who held on and continued to compete for too long; unfortunately, Andrei Arlovski is slightly different in that he’s still competing today, despite being 41 years old and with nearly 50 fights and two decades of experience to his name.

At his best, ‘The Pitbull’ was one of the greatest Heavyweights in the sport, blending his speed, athleticism and power together to win the UFC Heavyweight title in 2005.

Many fans felt the Belarusian should’ve hung his gloves up in 2011 following 4 straight losses – 3 by KO – but instead, Arlovski put together a surprisingly strong run of 7 wins and just 1 defeat to find himself brought back to the UFC in mid-2014. And there he surprised everyone further, reeling off another 4 wins in a row to move into title contention.

A knockout loss to Stipe Miocic in early 2016 stopped all that, though, and it put Arlovski on an eventual slide of 5 straight losses. ‘The Pitbull’ probably should’ve hung it up there, but bounced back with a pair of wins before losing another 4 in a row (one of which was overturned due to opponent Walt Harris failing a drug test). Most recently, Arlovski suffered another violent knockout loss at the hands of Jairzinho Rozenstruik.

Currently booked to face Philipe Lins in May, there’s no doubt that ‘The Pitbull’ should now be retired; his once tremendous striking game has been reduced to swinging a big right hook, his speed has begun to wane and his chin is almost completely cracked. Continuing on is simply going to damage his future health.