Many say it was his high profile losses to both Fedor Emelianenko and Brett Rodgers that drove Andrei "The Pitbull" Arlovski to play the high risk game of Russian Roulette, a game during which a revolver is loaded with a single round, the cylinder spun, and then placed against the temple. The player pulls the trigger, chancing the bullet could end their life.
"It's when you don't care about anything," stated the 30-year-old Belarusian mixed martial artist to Fighters.com.
But Arlovski's spokesman, Keith Gelman, stressed to a reporter from the website that the former UFC Heavyweight Champion "has never contemplated taking his own life".
All this after two devastating losses -- one to Brett Rodgers at a Strikeforce event in June, the other to Russian heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko at an Affliction: Day of Reckoning event in January. After his second loss, Arlovski returned to his home in Belarus to spend time with family and reconsider his future ambitions.
"I cried a lot after my fights, you know. When I lost to Fedor, I cried. When I lost to Rogers, I cried," he stated.
And now, the top ranked fighter says he wants to box, and plans to train with boxing coach Freddie Roach. Arlovski says he plans to debut his boxing career in September or October of this year. As for his future in mixed martial arts...
Just before the curtain is set to draw on their UFC 101: Declaration event tomorrow in Philadelphia, it appears that the promotion has received some of the most distressful news imaginable. Edith Labelle, their most curvaceous UFC's Octagon Girl, will forgo her imperative duties of notifying the fans what round is about to start.
Labelle manager, James Leinhos, confirmed the news to AOL FanHouse late Thursday night.
"Something happened," Leinhos said. "But at this time, I can only confirm that Edith no longer works for the UFC."
Leinhos would not confirm whether the hottie was fired or quit.
No worries UFC fans, the company had already added Natasha Wicks to their talent pool. Wicks won the Maxim Magazine Octagon Girl search during UFC 100 weekend last month. She will make her debut alongside Arianny Celeste and Logan Stanton at UFC 101 on Saturday.
Labelle's profile has since been removed from UFC's official website.
Labelle debuted with the UFC in late 2007 at UFC 78.
For a sneak peak of the UFC's new Octagon Girl, check out the Natasha Wicks gallery at UFC.com.
Meet Norm Turner a.k.a. Satan, the strength and conditioning coach behind Gina Carano! Watch as Satan puts Gina through a series of grueling exercises to test her endurance.
While helping build the hype for the tenth season of The Ultimate Fighter reality show set to debut in September, Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson spoke to Spike TV about the opportunity of fighting for the UFC.
"It means a lot to me to be part of the UFC. It's a chance to become the ultimate fighter. The UFC is as big as it gets," Kimbo said.
While preparing to answer his next question, fellow TUF 10: Heavyweights contender Wes Sims came into the scene to jokingly ask Kimbo for an autograph, perhaps dispelling some of the rumors floating around about the two of them.
Kimbo went on to add, "I still have a lot of things to learn to become a mixed martial artist, but there are a few things I can do in the meanwhile to survive in a fight. My stand up game is still improving."
"The heavyweight competition is tough," Kimbo continued. "There are a lot of big guys that can go to the ground. And with guys their size, they can be dangerous."
Kimbo also humbly admitted that the man he was two years ago wouldn't stand a chance inside the octagon. "A guy coming into this thing with my caliber while I was street fighting would get smashed. You gotta have a feel for so many different things in this sport. It's kinda like a science."
Kimbo also spoke to what his motivation is when it comes to his fight career. "My biggest motivation is the opportunity. And to make tons of money."
At least we know there's still part of the old Kimbo Slice left inside him.
You can see Kimbo, Sims and the rest of the cast for The Ultimate Fighter Season 10: Heavyweights when the show makes its premiere September 16th on Spike TV.
Strikeforce and DREAM will announce a partnership that could see an exchange of fighters between the two promotions.
Strikeforce Chief Executive Officer Scott Coker revealed Monday night in a radio appearance on The Carmichael Dave Show that the number two mixed martial arts promotion in the USA will enter into an "alliance" with Fighting Entertainment Group, the parent company of the number one mixed martial arts promotion in Japan.
The partnership could open up new possibilities for the recently-signed Fedor Emelianenko, who had seemingly only Alistair Overeem, Brett Rogers and Fabricio Werdum as opponents in Strikeforce. Fedor could also find himself fighting in Japan after his fall Strikeforce on Showtime date. The former PRIDE Heavyweight Champion is well-loved in the country and from 2003-2007 took pride in a tradition to compete every New Year's Eve in Japan's annual blockbuster year-end show.
"We've talked about (the partnership) for a long time," Coker said on the Northern California sports program. "It's finally going to happen now so maybe (Sergei) Kharitonov could fight Fedor at some point."
Besides more options for Fedor, there's an entire pool of new opponents for each promotion that could also give a clearer understanding to world rankings outside of the UFC.
The current champions and direct title contenders under DREAM are Joachim Hansen (lightweight champion), Shinya Aoki, Marius Zaromskis (welterweight champion), Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza, Jason "Mayhem" Miller, Bibiano Fernandes, Joe Warren, Hiroyuki Takaya and Hideo Tokoro.
Meanwhile, the champions with Strikeforce are Alistair Overeem (heavyweight), Renato "Babalu" Sobral (light heavyweight), Cung Le (middleweight), Josh Thomson (lightweight), Gilbert Melendez (interim lightweight) and the August 15 winner of Nick Diaz versus Jay Hieron.
The two promotions already share the services of former DREAM Middleweight Champion and current number one Strikeforce light heavyweight title contender Gegard Mousasi, who also happens to be under contract with Fedor's management, M-1 Global.
Coker added that more details on Fedor's future, including the date and opponent, could be announced as early as Thursday.
Many say it was his high profile losses to both Fedor Emelianenko and Brett Rodgers that drove Andrei "The Pitbull" Arlovski to play the high risk game of Russian Roulette, a game during which a revolver is loaded with a single round, the cylinder spun, and then placed against the temple. The player pulls the trigger, chancing the bullet could end their life.
