Andrei Arlovski on UFC release: ‘They asked me do I want? And I said no’

Andrei Arlovski may be done fighting in the UFC, but he’s not done fighting.

That’s the message “The Pitbull” has been repeating since news came out that he was leaving the promotion off a split decision loss to Martin Buday at UFC 303. The bout was the last on Arlovski’s current contract, and the former heavyweight champ says he decided not to re-sign with the promotion.

“I knew it was going to be my last [UFC] fight,” Arlovski said on a new episode of The MMA Hour. “The UFC proposed to do something, but I didn’t want it. My chapter in the UFC is closed, but definitely not on my MMA career. That’s why I decided not to do something, because the UFC proposed something, but I said no. So yeah, it was my last [UFC] fight.”

“They asked me, do I want? And I said no. But yeah, they proposed me.”

The 45 year old Arlovski has spent the last 10 years of his career as a de facto heavyweight gatekeeper, going 11-14-1 over that period with zero KOs. That’s a big switch from his early days when “The Pitbull” was a kill or be killed knockout artist that won the UFC heavyweight championship.

By the end of his run in 2024, Arlovski had transformed his style into a slow damage-avoidant grind. While it wasn’t particularly fun to watch, we give him props for cashing $300,000+ paychecks for as long as he did. Now we’ll see what comes next for Arlovski, who has said he’s already talking to other promotions.

“I’m not done fighting. I’m done with the UFC but I’m not done fighting,” he said. “More s— coming, we’re working on stuff.”

As for how he felt after his last fight with the promotion?

“I thought I was going to cry like little bitch,” Arlovski admitted. “But as of today … this is not the end of the line. Obviously I spent the biggest amount of time training and fighting especially in the UFC. But I didn’t sign new contract with UFC, I left the UFC, my chapter in UFC is done but life is not over. So like I said, I’m very excited.”

Arlovski was mostly positive when discussing the UFC, and thanked exec Hunter Campbell for moving his last fight from the Apex to a live crowd at UFC 303. He credited his longevity with the promotion to not talking trash, even when the UFC tried to bury him the last time his contract ended.

“Obviously, Uncle Dana helped me buy a new house, but I need to pay bills,” he said of his future. “I have a newborn baby, so I need to do a couple of more years.”