Andrei Arlovski (born 4 February 1979) is a Belarusian-American professional mixed martial artist, actor and former UFC Heavyweight Champion. He currently competes in the Heavyweight division for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and holds the record for most wins (23) in UFC heavyweight history. Arlovski has also competed for Strikeforce, WSOF, Affliction, EliteXC, ONE FC and M-1 Challenge. Early life Arlovski was born in Babruisk, Byelorussian SSR, Soviet Union (now Belarus). When he was younger, bullies often picked on him and beat him up. In 1994, when he was 14 years old, he had finally had enough and started lifting weights to put on muscle and, he hoped, to help him deal with these bullies. Arlovski only took up martial arts at the age of 16 in sports such as Sambo, Judo and Kickboxing. Enrolling at the police academy in Minsk, Arlovski combined his interest in a career in law enforcement with his growing martial arts participation by taking up the required police defense course in Sambo and quickly showed himself to be a highly competent Sambo opponent. In 1999, Arlovski won the European Youth Sambo Championship and the World Youth Championship. Not long after, Arlovski became the first Master of Sports and then International Master of Sports. He took a silver medal at the Sambo World Cup and another silver medal at the World Sambo Championship. Arlovski began taking a greater interest in other martial arts, studying kickboxing and developing his striking skills to complement his Sambo-based grappling abilities. Mixed martial arts career At the age of 20, Arlovski began his professional MMA career at the Mix Fight M-1 in St Petersburg, Russia on 9 April 1999 facing Viacheslav Datsik. After a competitive stand up battle, Arlovski would be knocked out with a hard straight, losing his debut. Not deterred, Arlovski returned in 2000 to M-1 Global at the European Championships, taking the heavyweight crown with a submission victory and a KO victory. Ultimate Fighting Championship Arlovski made his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut at UFC 28, defeating Aaron Brink by submission. He was then thrown in against top opposition, losing to future UFC Heavyweight Champion Ricco Rodriguez at UFC 32 and heavyweight contender Pedro Rizzo at UFC 36. Despite those early defeats, wins over future British Cage Rage Light heavyweight Champion Ian Freeman at UFC 40 and future IFL Light heavyweight Champion Vladimir Matyushenko at UFC 44 propelled Arlovski