Arlovski apologises for 'He's dead, I'm alive' remark about Anthony Johnson

Andrei Arlovski apologised on Saturday, November 7, for saying of the late Anthony "Rumble" Johnson: "He's dead, I'm alive." He made the remark while insisting he had won their 2013 fight. The former UFC heavyweight champion, now BKFC's heavyweight champion, posted the apology on Instagram and addressed it in particular to Johnson's family. Johnson died in November 2022, aged 38.

What he said

Arlovski made the remark in an interview with David Guttman. Fightful's report embeds the clip as posted on X by the account Happy Punch on November 7.

He was talking about his decision loss to Johnson. He said Johnson broke his jaw in two places at the end of the first round, and that he fought on for two more rounds. "Honestly, I still think that I won that fight, but unfortunately, the judges gave it to him," he said, as transcribed by MMA Sucka. The transcripts differ slightly on what came next, but all agree on the line "He's dead, I'm alive."

Other fighters pushed back. Gilbert Burns replied "What???" with face-palm emojis, LowKick MMA reported. Joaquin Buckley, who has said Johnson shaped his own knockout style, criticised Arlovski in a video posted on X. "Anthony 'Rumble' Johnson didn't get the love that was deserved," Buckley said, per EssentiallySports.

The apology

In the post, Arlovski said he never meant that Johnson's passing was "somehow my victory". He wrote that he has fought cancer three times and that "English is my second language", as quoted by EssentiallySports. He said he takes "full responsibility for how my words sounded" and was sorry, above all to Johnson's family and loved ones.

He said his point was about survival rather than the fight. "It's about being alive, being grateful and having another chance to wake up tomorrow morning!" he wrote, per MMA Sucka. He also conceded the fight, in lines quoted by both Fightful and MMA Sucka:

Anthony won our fight. Nothing will ever change that.

Middle Easy says he also swore at critics in the post. Boxing News says he told them to check themselves. He called this "the second time" he has had to apologise for saying something wrong, without saying what the first was. EssentiallySports linked it to July 2019, when he apologised for a homophobic slur in a post-fight scrum, as Sherdog reported at the time.

We think the parts that count are the plain ones: he accepted that Johnson won and apologised to the family. The shots at critics in the same post make it read partly as a defence, and that weakens it.

We found no statement from BKFC, the UFC or Johnson's family, and no discipline has been reported.

The fight and the two fighters

The fight was the WSOF 2 main event on March 23, 2013, in Atlantic City. It wasn't a UFC bout, though his apology says "in the Octagon". Johnson, making his heavyweight debut), won a unanimous decision, 29-28 on all three cards, according to Middle Easy. Arlovski's corner argued at the time that the first round ran long.

Johnson finished his career 23-6. He knocked out Alexander Gustafsson, Ryan Bader and Glover Teixeira in the UFC and twice fought Daniel Cormier for the light heavyweight title. He died of organ failure while suffering from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and HLH, a rare immune disorder.

Arlovski, 47, is 34-24 in MMA. He left the UFC after a split-decision loss to Martin Buday at UFC 303 in June 2024, according to Wikipedia. It was his fourth straight defeat, all as the closing underdog. Among his fights since, he is 2-0 in BKFC, and he won its heavyweight title from Ben Rothwell on February 7, 2026, in Philadelphia.

What's next

Arlovski is due to defend that title against Leonardo Perdomo in the main event of KnuckleMania VII in Miami in February 2027. BKFC president David Feldman announced the fight in September, after Perdomo knocked out Bear Hill at BKFC 93, SI reported. No exact date had been announced as of Sunday.