Former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski, at 44 now the oldest fighter on the UFC roster, has booked his next fight.
Arlovski (34-21, 2NC) will face Don’Tale Mayes at the UFC’s June 3, 2023 Fight Night card, set for the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Promotion officials announced the news in a press release on Thursday. For Arlovski, the Mayes fight will be fight #40 in his UFC tenure.
Claiming the heavyweight title in 2005, “The Pitbull” defended the belt twice before losing it back to the man he defeated to claim gold originally, Tim Sylvia. In 2008, he would exit the promotion, moving to Affliction and later Strikeforce as part of a troubled run that had many calling for the Belarusian fighter to retire.
Instead, Arlovski, having lost to the likes of Fedor Emelianenko and Sergei Kharitonov, made his way back to the UFC, picking up wins in the WSOF and ONE Championship (against old rival Sylvia, in the pair’s fourth fight) before returning home in 2014.
Only Jim Miller has stepped into the octagon more times than Arlovski in UFC history. Coincidentally, he’s also fighting on the June 3 card.
Don’Tale Mayes at 31 will have more than a decade in youth on Arlovski. But like Arlovski, who had a four-fight win streak snapped against Marcos Rogerio de Lima last time out, Mayes is coming off a loss. In his case, to Augusto Sakai.
The UFC’s June 3, 2023 Fight Night card will be headlined by flyweights Kai Kara-France and Amir Albazi, a booking the UFC also confirmed on Thursday. The following match-ups have been reported for the card:
- Kai Kara-France vs. Amir Albazi
- Miesha Tate vs. Mayra Bueno Silva
- Alex Caceres vs. Daniel Pineda
- Jim Miller vs. Ľudovít Klein
- Tim Elliott vs. Victor Altamirano
- Jinh Yu Frey vs. Elise Reed
- David Onama vs. Khusein Askhabov
- Abubakar Nurmagomedov vs. Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos
- John Castañeda vs. Mateus Mendonça
- Da’Mon Blackshear vs. Luan Lacerda
- Maxim Grishin vs. Philipe Lins
- Jamie Mullarkey vs. Guram Kutateladze
- Karine Silva vs. Ketlen Souza
- John Castaneda vs. Mateus Mendonca
- Andrei Arlovski vs. Don’Tale Mayes
