No one could mistake them for young men. Not now. Not after everything they’ve done and seen and endured. Not with the evidence of said things carved into their faces.

Just look at them. Watch them at yesterday’s pre-fight press conference for the BKFC KnuckleMania VI event in Philadelphia on Saturday night. You’ll see what I mean.

Andrei Arlovski, 47, former UFC heavyweight champion, a man whose nose has been aggressively repositioned on his face so many times he forgot where it started. And then there’s Ben Rothwell, 44, current BKFC heavyweight champion, with a head like a shiny battering ram and two stale spirals for ears, blinking slowly through the scar tissue as he listens to his old foe talk about how, after two wins over Rothwell in MMA, Arlovski is pretty sure he’s stuck in the man’s head in ways that will prove useful in Saturday’s bare-knuckle boxing match.

“I know how it probably looks to people,” Rothwell told me by phone a few days earlier. “If I lose again it’s like, 'Hey, are you ever going to figure out how to beat this f***ing guy?' Maybe that’s what he thinks too, like he’s got me figured out. Maybe I’m not that intimidating to him. Maybe he’s not worried about it. And I guess that’s what makes me feel like, 'Alright, man. I’m going to f***ing show you. You still don’t know what I’m about.'”

Shouldn’t he though? They had two previous fights, in two different MMA organizations, spaced out over a little more than decade. They’ve spent nearly a half-hour trying to hurt each other on live television. They’ve studied and trained for and thought about each other for, what, months of their lives at this point? It’s to the point where they can’t even really call the other an enemy anymore. They know each other too well for that.

Certainly Arlovski thinks so. At Thursday’s press conference he said he’s been stuck in Rothwell’s head since 2009. (Their first meeting was at Affliction: Banned, in July of 2008.) He also said that, as a man nearing 50, who’s already survived bouts with cancer, a third bout with Rothwell is “pretty much nothing” by comparison.

“He’s just a big guy,” Arlovski said. “A lot of meat, bones and skin. That’s it. And I’m very excited about this f***ing fight.”

It’s a different thing to have a nemesis at this stage of life. There’s a familiarity there, almost a comfort. They look across at each other and see an opponent who’d like to separate them from consciousness, sure, but they also see a peer. There’s a sense that, whatever animosity might be built into the relationship, at least you know this guy. At least he, like you, is still out here doing it. His staying power as a fighter reflects your own. You are compatriots in a sense, two old veterans still hanging on in a young man’s game. Whatever else you’d like to take from one another, that is something you share.

The first time they fought, Rothwell was 26 and fresh off a nine-fight winning streak in the IFL. Arlovski was 29, already on the back side of his UFC title reign, but seemingly still with plenty of fight left in him.

This was Rothwell’s chance to show he belonged in the big time. The problem back then, he said, was that maybe he didn’t entirely believe it himself.

“That first fight, there’s nothing I can say, no excuses or anything,” Rothwell said. “I should have fought better. That’s all. I had plenty of time to train for Andre. All I can chalk it up to is I was young in my career. I got overwhelmed by the opportunity. It was a huge fight, because I got told whoever won between me and Andre got to fight Fedor [Emelianenko], who at the time was the reigning heavyweight god, you know what I mean? Just to fight him, just to get a chance to fight him, it could have been life-changing. It could have completely changed the trajectory of my life. And Andre got it.”

Not only did Arlovski get the fight with Emelianenko, who was then essentially undefeated and the consensus top heavyweight in the world, he did quite well in the fight … up to a point. For most of the first round he swatted the stoic Russian all over the Affliction ring like a cat with a mouse. Then, perhaps feeling too sure of himself, he back Emelianenko into a corner and leapt toward him with a flying knee. By the time his body returned to earth, Arlovski was unconscious and defeated.

The second time Rothwell and Arlovski fought, well, that was a different story. It was in the UFC in 2019. Fans thought they were both old then. Arlovski got the decision in what was a largely forgettable fight in the careers of both men. Rothwell remembers Arlovski getting ahead early, outpointing him, pulling away on the scorecards.

“I turned it around in the third, bloodied him up a little bit, but he won the first two [rounds],” Rothwell said. “He did a good job. Now it’s seven years later and it’s like, where are we both at? Let’s see.”

One big difference between them now is these bare-knuckle fights are still somewhat new for Arlovski. He fought and won at a BKFC event last summer. He’s done some other boxing here and there. But Rothwell has been living this bare-fisted version of the sport for several years now. He’s 4-0 in BKFC, with finishes in every fight. He has the heavyweight championship around his waist. He has some things about this very specific and often bloody way of fighting more or less figured out. So if he can’t beat Arlovski in this, at this stage, how’s that going to feel?

At the same time, he can’t quite bring himself to view Arlovski as a hated rival. It just doesn’t work that way at this age, or with this kind of history between them.

“A part of me feels like, here's a guy that I'm fighting for the third time that's helping me make income one more time,” Rothwell said. “Even though he's got those wins on me, him and I both helped each other make substantial amounts of money. He even said the Affliction fight for him, that was the best — he made some really big money at that period of time, and I also got paid a ridiculous amount, really, for 2008. I made really good money. And then 2019, him and I got another paycheck together. 

"So in a business sense, we've definitely helped each other. And it's like, who would I be fighting right now if it wasn't for Andre? Andre at least is helping us bring eyes to the whole thing, to the bare-knuckle fan base, and eyes to this event. So there is that respect. It's undeniable respect for all that him and I have both put into this.”

And yet, on Saturday night they’ll go out there stripped to the waist, knuckles exposed, swinging for each other’s faces until someone falls down and stays there. That’s the business they’ve chosen. At this point, they know it very well, just as they know there are not an infinite number of these opportunities left for them.

So why not go once more into the breech with an old rival? What’s a little more of each other’s blood spilled at this point? And who knows, maybe this time the result will be different. Maybe there are still some surprises left in this pairing, even after all these years.

Mark Kolbe Photography via Getty Images

Have we hit a new low with heavyweight MMA? How much time can Ilia Topuria realistically take for himself as UFC lightweight champ? And what’s the crossover potential between Zuffa Boxing and UFC fighters?

All that and more in this week’s mailbag. To ask a question of your own, hit up @BenFowlkesMMA on X or @Ben_Fowlkes on Threads.

@INCagefighting: Which era of the UFC Heavyweight Division was worse? The modern version or the Tim Sylvia dark age?

At least in the Tim Sylvia era we knew why the UFC’s heavyweight division was so disappointing. It’s because most of the good heavyweights were over in PRIDE FC. Then a few ended up in Affliction, then Strikeforce. Once those were all out of the way, the UFC had a real heavyweight class at last.

WBut what’s up now? I tell you, watching that fight between Tallison Teixeira and Tai Tuivasa made me angry. It was so frustrating. I was talking to the TV, saying, “What are you doing?” Then a few minutes later I’d say it again, to the other guy this time. It was like no one wanted to win that fight. It was as if they made it go the full 15 minutes just to punish us.

And you know what’s really crazy? Tuivasa lost, putting his current losing streak at six straight fights, and he’s still ranked in the top 15 (albeit at the very bottom now). That right there tells you everything you need to know about the state of the division.

@AntEvansMMA: I took a week off work during my divorce. When I went back, there was a period of weeks where, every day, at some point, I'd just not be productive for 30-45mins at a time.

But I got through it. It got easier.

Illa taking a year off work for a divorce seems, well, odd.

No?

Hey real quick, did your job involve fighting a person who’s done nothing for the last couple months but prepare to destroy you in a cage on live TV? Or was it maybe a little more low-stakes than that?

If you were too distracted by your big life upheaval, what, you might forget to answer an email? You spaced on a meeting? Big deal. If Ilia Topuria goes into a fight and doesn’t have his whole act together, he loses his title and maybe goes to the hospital afterward to get his jaw wired shut or a metal plate inserted into his face.

I won’t pretend to know what’s going on in his personal life or inside his head. But if he thinks he needed the break in order to return fully focused and ready to do this, I’m inclined to believe him. Lord knows that if he’d come back unprepared and got beaten up for it, no one would want to hear his excuses then. He’s better off taking the time now to make sure he doesn’t need any.

@justlikelasagna: Holy Volkanovski! What a masterclass performance on Saturday night....Or was it Diego Lopes that decided to literally change nothing from their first fight that allowed Volk to cruise (mostly) to an easy victory?

It’s a little of both. Alexander Volkanovski is very good at fighting. In terms of fight IQ, making adjustments on the fly, reading opponents and overwhelming them with information, there’s hardly anyone who’s ever done it like him. But also? I really have no idea what Diego Lopes was telling himself in there.

Obviously it’s much harder to do your stuff against the champ than it is to sit here and talk about what stuff someone else should have done. One of Volkanovski’s great strengths is that he never gives you the ball and says, “OK it’s your turn on offense now.” He just takes over a fight and runs away with it.

But Lopes had to see him getting further and further ahead, right? There had to be a little voice saying, “Oh no, it’s happening again.” And instead of trying different things or taking more risks or just amping up the aggression, he did arguably less in the last couple rounds of the rematch than he did in the first fight. How did he think he was going to win that?

Again, easy for us to say how a fella should go about beating one of the greatest featherweights of all time. But once you’ve already tried and failed once, the one thing you ought to know is that more of the same ain’t going to get it done.

@shadore66: What do you say to the idea that Zuffa Boxing will fail because there is no sustained interest in boxing in the USA? I get that they have the pay all "worked out" and have a tv deal, etc. But I swear not enough people give really give a s*** about watching weekly no-names box?

Just like with Power Slap, we have to ask what Zuffa Boxing would need to do in order for the suits to consider it a success. Because it really might not take much. When you already own the arena where the fights take place, and when that arena has its own built-in production studio, with all your existing staff to work it? Yeah, that’ll keep costs low. And if you’re not gunning for the big names in boxing, fighter pay probably also stays low. So maybe this whole enterprise doesn’t need much of a return in order to make it worthwhile for the ownership crew.

I guess my question would be, is that really all we’re trying to do with Zuffa Boxing? Is the goal only to run a weekly fight night-style event that doesn’t cost much and produces modest returns, just for the sake of adding an extra trickle of revenue from a different combat sport? If so, fine. But that is a long, long way from taking over boxing to save it from itself or whatever.

@braiiinnnnn: early thoughts on max vs Charles?

Both of them seem like they should be on some sort of decline by now, don’t they? But they’re not. They might not be champ material any more, but they both pop back up every once in a while to remind us that they’re still better than 97% of the fighters out there. So what happens when they fight each other? Someone has to lose.

I favor Max Holloway in this fight, but not by much. Charles Oliveira has proven to be full of surprises, and when he’s on he has a bunch of different ways to beat you. But Holloway is the more consistent fighter. There just aren't many weak spots in his game. Or, if there are, you have to be the best in the world to find them.

@RealFakeSamDunn: If there was a big ol dang ol openweight tournament a couple weekends from now and everyone on earth could enter, WHO WOULD WIN?

Everyone on earth?? In that case I assume we’re not talking about a one-night tournament. This thing sounds like it could take a while.

If you’d asked me a few years ago, I would have said Jon Jones. Now I’m not so sure. If the tournament were two or three years from now, I might say Gable Steveson would end up being a favorite. But if it’s happening a couple weekends from now and is open to absolutely everyone, hell, I don’t know. The winner might be playing in the Super Bowl this weekend.

@LyceumLibations: Do you think UFC stars will be able to transition back and forth to Zuffa boxing? This could be a major conflict if they’re able to make more $$$

UFC CEO Dana White has said that won’t happen, and he seems pretty adamant about it. That seems no fun to me. I’d think the benefit of owning multiple combat sports brands and having hundreds of fighters under contract would be the ability to mix and match them to create interesting, headline-grabbing fights.

But if the pay from Zuffa Boxing turns out to be so much better than pay in the UFC, you’re not going to keep it a secret just by keeping the fighters separate. Not in the year 2026. But it’s not like MMA fighters don’t already know that top boxers earn way, way more than they do. They also can’t claim ignorance on the overall revenue picture. By now, everybody knows the UFC is raking in billions every year and paying fighters less than 20% of it. That’s no secret. It’s just that fighters haven’t been able or willing to do anything to nudge up that number. I don’t see that changing just because there’s boxing in the same building now.

UFC 325 gave Alexander Volkanovski another chance to show why he’s the featherweight champ, while Diego Lopes came up short yet again in a title fight against his elder. Here are the five biggest takeaways from the UFC’s latest trip to Australia.

1. What if age is just another overmatched opponent to Alexander Volkanovski? We keep waiting for him to show up and finally look like a featherweight on the wrong side of 35. He keeps going out there and looking more or less the same as ever, right down to the shiny bald head and the trim of his beard.

Volkanovski, 37, is as smart a fighter as we’ve ever seen at 145 pounds. His ability to read opponents and adjust on the fly is arguably his greatest superpower. If you plan to last in this game, especially at the top of the lighter weight classes, relying on fight IQ and adaptability is a much more resilient base than going on speed or reflexes or power alone. You’re simply not going to out-think the featherweight champ, so you’d better have some other arrows in your quiver.

That said, the hungry young(er) wolves are at the door. Movsar Evloev. Lerone Murphy. It’s hard not to wonder how much longer an aging, undersized 145-pounder can hold that title down in a division where everyone’s been gunning for him for around seven years now. Stick around long enough, and the odds of a happy ending only get worse. Even "Volk" can only outsmart Father Time for so long.

2. Lopes must have actually liked losing a title fight by decision the first time, seeing as how he did so very little to avoid a repeat in this rematch. Seriously, what was the plan here? Everyone else who watched that first fight expected more urgency, more aggression, less waiting around and dancing to the champion’s tune. But Lopes went out there Saturday and fought like this bout was just a continuation of the last. Round 6, here we go. Doing more of the same and hoping for a different result.

I don’t get it. Did he not know there were judges scoring these rounds? Did he not know there were only five of those rounds? If you’re not going to outwork the other guy, then you have to out-hurt him. And if you’re not going to do that, then you have to finish him. Lopes had some openings to pursue such strategies, just like he did in the first fight. Still he seemed weirdly content to let the clock tick down, as if these opportunities were in endless supply. They aren’t. Neither are title shots. He was lucky to get a second one so soon after the first. But after that showing, I wouldn’t count on there being a third.

3. Benoit Saint Denis is trying to make us forget about his very unfortunate stretch in 2024 — and it might be working. The Frenchman hasn’t lost since that two-fight skid. He also hasn’t let anyone make it past the second round. Here he needed just a bit of settling in before mauling Dan Hooker, which may or may not be the kind of thing that still earns a man title shot considerations at 155 pounds. 

Saint Denis still doesn’t seem polished enough to be a serious challenge for someone like UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria, but he does seem like a fun matchup for basically anyone in the top five while we wait to see how the chips fall between Topuria and new interim champ Justin Gaethje.

4. Tallison Teixeira proved it is possible to beat Tai Tuivasa without gaining much from it. Before he did it, I would have said it wasn’t possible. What do you mean you picked up a win over a popular heavyweight but somehow made people less excited than ever about you? How does that even happen?

Turns out it can be accomplished rather easily. All you have to do is coast to a shaky decision finish against a guy who hasn’t won a fight in four years. Bonus points if you can somehow look even more exhausted than he does, while still holding on for a win solely because neither of you had the gas tank to fight three full rounds. This was painful to watch. It might look like a rebound on Teixeira’s record, but it didn’t exactly make him look like the new boogeyman at heavyweight. Good news is, it probably won’t be too difficult to find people willing to fight him after that display.

5. Give Rafael Fiziev points for heart. He ate those right hands from Mauricio Ruffy and his brain told his legs to pack it in and call it a day. Fiziev wasn’t having it. He still wanted to fight, even when he was stumbling like a newborn colt. There is no quit in that man. 

But there is a ton of power in Ruffy’s fists, which made all the difference.

He stayed after Fiziev, stayed calm in his final assault, and got back in the win column after his lone UFC loss to Saint Denis last year. Ruffy still seems like he has all the pieces to be somebody at lightweight. Even if it is a crowded, chaotic field at the moment.