‘The Pitbull’ has a mighty tall mountain to climb next year.
A promising heavyweight battle between former UFC champion Andre Arlovski and ‘Skyscraper’ Stefan Struve has been booked for UFC 222. The UFC announced the news Thursday. The bout joins Andre Soukhamthath vs. Sean O’Malley, as well as Cat Zingano vs. Ketlen Vieira on the card.
UFC heavyweight champion way back in 2005, Arlovski (26–15 (1)) just snapped a five fight losing streak, the worst of his career. With a decision win over Junior Albini at UFC Norfolk (UFC Fight Night 120), Arlovski got a big monkey off his back. Now, he has a big opponent in front of him in the form of the near-7 foot tall Stefan Struve.
During his skid, Arlovski dropped fights to Stipe Miocic, Alistrair Overeem, and Francis Ngannou, among others. Prior to the slump, however, he had won four straight in the UFC, starting with his return at UFC 174 against Brendan Schaub.
Struve (28–9) had turned things around in 2016, winning two straight against Daniel Omielańczuk and Bigfoot Silva. However, he found himself on the wrong end of a TKO loss against Alexander Volkov in the main event of UFC Fight Night 115 in September.
UFC 222 goes down March 3 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The card does not have a main event announced as of yet.
