Andrei Arlovski and Youtuber Jack Doherty have spoken out about their altercation at Friday’s Jake Paul vs. Anthony Joshua fight card at the Kaseya Center in Miami.
The skirmish in the concession stands has wound up being more talked about than the headliner itself, given what a bad night of boxing Paul vs. Joshua was (though somehow, Andrew Tate managed to embarrass himself even worse the following evening).
Now, Doherty is claiming that Arlovski actually started the confrontation, despite video footage showing the exact opposite – Doherty bumping into the former UFC heavyweight champ, twice his size, then having a few words. Doherty’s denials run in the face of the fact that sparking confrontations is his exact MO, which Youtube has somehow allowed to continue over the years, despite a dangerous number of copycats and the possibility of real harm.
“How did I start the Andrei Arlovski fight? Watch the video u (sic) old twitter f*cks u (sic) guys just point the finger at the kid who’s half ur (sic) age and way richer than u (sic). I would do the same tho,” Doherty wrote in a brief statement on social media site Twitter/X.
If nothing else, it’s clear Doherty doesn’t have an assistant writing his tweets for him. In any case, anyone who has watched the video probably knows what’s up. Arlovski, however, addressed the matter on his Instagram Story on Sunday, fielding questions from numerous fans, several of whom thanked the heavyweight for rag-dolling several members of Doherty’s crew, while Doherty himself hid behind his bodyguard.
Arlovski did, however, deny that he had beat anyone from Doherty’s crew up, despite being seen landing multiple punches on at least three assailants, including the Youtuber’s rather large bodyguard, who quickly seemed to realize he was out-gunned.
“First of all, I didn’t beat anyone, I just stopped the threat. They were threatening me, my wife, my kid and I had another friend [present],” stated Arlovski. “So I did what I was supposed to do, what every man’s supposed to do. Stop the threat.”
He’d go on to add in response to a second fan that “I didn’t beat them. I just stopped the threat like I said.”
Asked why he was attacked, Arlovski suggested that “I guess because they were looking for content for their website, and I guess I was a victim.”
“They thought maybe it’s going to be easy content for Youtube. Maybe that’s why.
Maybe I’m old, maybe because it was like three idiots and a big bodyguard. Actually you know what it’s kind of weird, because I saw him walking but I didn’t pay attention, that he might be with them. And he kind of landed one punch. So I have to be more alert and pay attention to more people who are around. That’s the lesson.”
When it was suggested he take out the bodyguard in question, in more explicit terms, Arlovski replied saying “That guy, he was sneaky. He sucker punched me and I didn’t accept that f*cking punch, to be honest with you.”
Still, he held back on calling the altercation an actual fight. “Fight? They just tried to film some content I guess.” And he had a rather underhanded compliment, albeit a well deserved one, for Jack Doherty. “It was a successful escape. He was successfully hiding and running away, behind his bodyguard. He did a great job.”
Andrei Arlovski will be in a sanctioned fight in February, when he faces fellow UFC alum “Big” Ben Rothwell for the BKFC heavyweight championship.
