Arlovski Descends on Team Greg Jackson

Minority report: I still think Andrei Arlovski is one of the most dangerous heavyweights in the sport. Slow down the fight footage of the Fedor Emelianenko bout and you can just about make out the slightest bit of frustration on Emelianenko’s face. (Could’ve been gas. I’m open to other theories.)

After getting knocked out by both Emelianenko and Brett Rogers, Arlovski is taking a ten-day sabbatical from Chicago to train with Greg Jackson in New Mexico: the first-day footage is now a YouTube destination. See Andrei close the distance against a heavy bag with an alarming proximity to a brick wall; see Andrei roll with Joe Stevenson; see Andrei collapse into a seriously dilapidated hotel room bed, surrounded by bags of ice, and about to be disappointed by Albuquerque’s pathetic cable line-up.

It’s a good move, though Jackson, for whatever reason, has never turned out a heavyweight who’s made as much of an impression as lighter-weight fighters like Rashad Evans, Keith Jardine, or Nate Marquardt. But there’s a lot of malleable clay in Arlovski, who is still very capable of hurting a lot of people.