EliteXC has officially announced that former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovksi will fight former IFL heavyweight champion Roy Nelson on the upcoming CBS Saturday Night Fights event scheduled for October 4.

Arlovski was originally slated to face Josh Barnett on the Affliction: Day of Reckoning fight card that was recently rescheduled for this coming January. The “Pitbull” last fought on the initial Affliction card where he defeated Ben Rothwell via KO in an excellent three round battle.

Roy Nelson was also scheduled to appear on the postponed Affliction card against Paul Buentello, but will instead move up the the main televised portion of the CBS fight card and face Arlovski. Nelson made a decent name for himself in the International Fight League losing only once to Ben Rothwell while finishing up as the IFL heavyweight champ.

This will be the first time EliteXC and Affliction have worked together and, in my opinion, it is a very smart move for both sides. If these two promotions would join forces, they could put up a significant force against the UFC. In fact, both promotions may very shortly need the other to keep each other afloat.

Here is the current scheduled fight card for the televised portion of the Oct. 4 event:

• Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock
• Jake Shields vs. Paul Daley (EliteXC welterweight title fight)
• Andrei Arlovski vs. Roy Nelson
• Gina Carano vs. Kelly Kobold
• Murilo Rua vs. Benji Radach