White on Arlovski: "We want to sign him"by
Although his former heavyweight champion has been rumored to be fighting outside the organization, Dana White still hopes to re-sign Andrei Arlovski to the UFC, though he has "no idea" if it'll pan out.
White commented on the former champ with Kevin Iole in his latest reader mailbag at Yahoo! Sports.
Arlovski fulfilled the fight commitment of his previous contract when he defeated Jake O'Brien at UFC 82 in March, and the UFC lost its exclusive rights to negotiate with the Belarusian fighter on May 1.
"We were just talking about Arlovski," White told Yahoo! Sports. "We want to sign him. It's our intention to sign him. But I don't know. We're, well, I don't know. We want to. Whether we will or not, I have no idea. We like Andrei, and I know the fans like Andrei. I hope we can do something."
Arlovski's camp had no updates when recently contacted by MMAjunkie.com (
www.mmajunkie.com) but obviously hadn't closed the door on a possible return to the UFC.
With many organizations, most notably the upstart Affliction promotion and EliteXC, in need of heavyweight talent, Arlovski is sure to have plenty of suitors. However, reports that he's already signed to fight Ben Rothwell at Affliction's July 19 event are not true -- but perhaps just a little premature. The organization has made no formal announcement as of Wednesday afternoon.
Arlovski (12-5 MMA, 10-4 UFC), a Chicago-based fighter, reigned as the UFC's heavyweight title-holder from February 2005 to April 2006.
Since losing a July 2006 title fight to then-champ Tim Sylvia, Arlovski's has pieced together three consecutive victories.
UFC still want Arlovski
