FEATURE: Q&A at UFC 225

UFC 225 comes to the United Center in Chicago on Saturday night with two huge Blackhawks fans on the main card.
Belarus native Andrei Arlovski and Illinois native CM Punk are each fighting at the event. Arlovski will face Tai Tuivasa as the main heavyweight matchup, while Punk will fight Mike Jackson as a welterweight.

ANDREI ARLOVSKI:

As a Blackhawks fan and with ties to Chicago, how excited are you to fight at the United Center?
It's amazing. When I beat my last opponent Stefan Struve, I found out this next fight would be in Chicago. I begged my managers to put me on this card and I'm very excited.

When did you being a hockey fan really take off?
I had a friend, Ruslan Salei, and when he died in the (2011 Lokomotiv) plane crash with his whole Russian team, I promised his sons that I would one day visit him in California and we would skate together. When I came back to Chicago, I found a coach and we skated and I fell in love.
What has been your favorite Blackhawks moment to either witness or be a part of?
My favorite memory is when they became Stanley Cup Champions back in 2010. It was an (exciting) moment. My friend asked if I wanted a license plate with a Blackhawks logo and I said '(expletive) yeah!' I put the double 'A,' you know? Even in Florida I still have my Blackhawks plate on my car.

CM PUNK:

As a Blackhawks fan and with ties to Chicago, how excited are you to fight at the United Center? What will it be like for you?
This isn't far from where I live. The United Center is on my route if I'm going for a long run. I say hi to Stan Mikita, say hi to Hull, turn around and keep running. I try not to think about it, honestly. If I think about it, it will overload my brain and short circuit it. It's a special place.
I was fortunate as a little kid to have been in the Chicago Stadium. It's still the loudest place I've ever been in my entire life. A close second is here, at the United Center, every Blackhawks game when they sing the national anthem. I saw the Cup hoisted here on home ice, that's pretty wild. I've done a couple of things here and there for the Blackhawks and Tommy Hawk and I know a lot of the guys.
Everybody has always been just super awesome. To be able to kind of take center stage at the place I've watched guys like Duncan Keith, Kane, Toews, Seabrook and all these guys, Sharpy… They've given me incredibly entertaining moments I will remember for the rest of my life. I now feel like it's my turn to do that and I'm excited to do that.

We've seen you in your Blackhawks jersey, we've seen you at games… tell me about your earliest Blackhawks memory.
It was a game at the Chicago Stadium. I remember not being able to hear anything and I was terrified, being a little kid and I was in this crazy environment. Where we were, we had to have been on the second level. The stairs were so steep that I felt like if I stood up too quick I would tumble into the stairs in front of me and fall off the balcony. A couple of rows in front of us, there were people that were sitting right underneath the lip of the balcony above them. This guy in a suit gets what looks like an entire keg of beer dumped on him. He just gets drenched. He's swearing at the people and then he disappears. He excuses himself through people, goes up the aisle and marches upstairs. Then he comes back with a bloody lip and blood on his suit. The guy just walked upstairs, got into a fist fight and then just came back to his seat and watched the game.
I was a little kid just like, 'this is wild.' I just remember it being the loudest place I had ever been in my entire life. I saw a Bulls game there too and the same thing, the place was just insane. I don't think they make buildings like that anymore. In terms of famous sports arenas, we've got Wrigley Field, I think Boston is still going. But that place is gone. United Center has replaced that and I think has done a really nice job of capturing the aesthetic and atmosphere.

Give me the rundown on your relationship with Duncan Keith. You two seem to have a good friendship.
Two dudes who are pretty like-minded. He loves hockey, I love hockey. I'm fortunate to be able to ask him dumb hockey questions. We'll go out to dinner, Chicago Cut - shoutout, I love that place. We get to trade secrets and training tips. He's big on visualization and he kind of got me into that. It's something I did, but he dedicates a block of time a day to visualizing and that's helped out a lot. I know he's getting his little one into jujitsu and he's told me he's been dabbling, which is exciting.
If I was to model myself off anybody on the Blackhawks it would be him. He's a tough SOB. He's not the flashiest, he doesn't score the amount of goals Patrick Kane does, but he's such an integral part of the team and if he wasn't there, who is to say Kane scores all of his goals? And that's what I love about hockey and what I love about the Blackhawks. It's about the guy next to you. It's not about you.
For more information on UFC 225, click HERE.