5 UFC fighters who defied Father Time

#4. Andrei Arlovski – former UFC heavyweight champion

Andrei Arlovski is still ticking despite fighting in the UFC for over 20 years

It’s safe to say that few fighters have been able to defy Father Time quite as impressively as Andrei Arlovski. In fact, there’s probably an argument that ‘The Pitbull’ has managed to do so on multiple occasions, making him even more remarkable.

Debuting in the octagon way back in 2000 at the height of the promotion’s ‘Dark Ages’, Arlovski rose through the ranks, eventually defeating Tim Sylvia to claim the heavyweight title in 2005. However, after defending it on two occasions, the Belarusian was dethroned by Sylvia in 2006.

A contract dispute then saw Arlovski leave the UFC for pastures new. A four-fight losing streak, with three of the losses coming via knockouts, seemed to suggest his time at the top was all but done.

‘The Pitbull’ surprised everyone though, by putting together a winning streak and returning to the UFC in 2014, where he further stunned fans by reeling off four wins in a row to somehow climb back into title contention.

However, Arlovski then hit a serious slide, losing five bouts in a row. Given that the final one, against Marcin Tybura, came when the Belarusian had turned 38 years old, it looked like his career was surely over for good this time.

Incredibly, though, Arlovski has continued to truck on, has won more fights than he’s lost in the years that have followed, and is somehow currently riding a four-fight win streak despite turning 43 in February. Even stranger is the fact that he seems more durable right now than he did in his prime!

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#3. Randy Couture – former UFC heavyweight and light heavyweight champion

Randy Couture only ended his UFC career shortly before his 50th birthday

The UFC’s original defier of Father Time, few fighters have ever achieved the kind of success that Randy Couture did at an advanced age. In fact, it’s highly likely that no older fighter will ever match his achievements again.

Couture debuted in the UFC back in the promotion’s early days, defeating Tony Halme and Steven Graham to claim UFC 15’s heavyweight tournament in 1997. Even then he wasn’t a spring chicken. ‘The Natural’ turned 34 years old a month after the event.

From there, the former Olympic wrestler became the first fighter to ever defeat Vitor Belfort, claimed the heavyweight title by unseating Maurice Smith, left the UFC for a period, and then stunned everyone by returning at the age of 37 to reclaim the title from the much younger Kevin Randleman.

When ‘The Natural’ finally lost his title to Josh Barnett in 2002 and then failed to defeat Ricco Rodriguez for it after Barnett vacated later that year, it looked like his time was finally up. After all, he was almost 40 at that stage.

Somehow, though, Couture’s best years were only just beginning. Rather than retire, he dropped to 205 pounds and defeated the weight class’ top two fighters, Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz, claiming the light heavyweight title and becoming the first man over the age of 40 to win UFC gold.

The fact that he retired from MMA in 2006 and then returned a year later at the age of 43 to win the heavyweight title for the third time, defeating Tim Sylvia, only added to his legend. When Couture finally stepped away from the octagon in 2011, he was just months away from his 48th birthday.

These days, ‘The Natural’ is persona non grata with the UFC thanks to his various feuds with the promotion’s management, but it’s impossible to take away his accomplishments, and it’s hard to imagine anyone topping them in the future.