Former UFC champion Andrei Arlovski has responded to claims that he beat up streamer Jack Doherty while backstage at Jake Paul vs Anthony Joshua after the two clashed.
On December 19, Jake Paul faced his biggest challenge in boxing to date, taking on former heavyweight king ‘AJ’ Anthony Joshua. The YouTuber-turned-boxer was stopped in the sixth round by Joshua, suffering a broken jaw from the knockout.
However, that wasn’t the only clash on the night that drew plenty of attention. Streamer and YouTuber Jack Doherty clashed with former UFC Heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski, with videos of Arlovski swinging and kicking out at Doherty’s team hitting social media.
The streamer claimed that the Belarusian-American fighter had “randomly” tried to kick him while walking past. “I was just walking by, and he tries to kick me for no reason and that’s how it all started… I literally didn’t say or do anything to him, but I’ll always be the bad guy in the situation lol,” he posted on X (formerly Twitter).
Andrei Arlovski responds to Jack Doherty fight claims
Arlovski hit back at those claims on Sunday, December 21, responding in a series of Instagram story posts.
“First of all, I didn’t beat anyone. I just stopped the threat. Someone threatened me, my wife, my kid, and I have another friend and his wife. I did what I was supposed to do and what every man is supposed to do and stop the threat,” he said.
In another post, Arlovski stated that he was “the victim” as Doherty was “looking for content” from him and that he’d been “sucker punched” in the melee.
“They thought maybe it was going to be easy content for YouTube. Maybe that’s why. Maybe I’m old. Maybe because it’s three idiots and a big bodyguard. It’s kind of weird because I saw him walking but I didn’t pay attention that he might be with them. He kind of landed one punch,” he added.
One fan asked Arlovski to “destroy” the Rumble streamer in a fight. He responded by saying he’d “love to,” rather than being sucker punched again.
Doherty doubled down on his claim that he wasn’t the instigator, and that the ex-UFC champ had “bumped” into his team.
“I’m not trying to fight this guy, I’m not trying to instigate a fight. I’m trying to stay out of trouble,” he added in a follow-up video.
