- Now you are called the best student of Fedor Emelianenko.

Are you flattered to hear that?

- Nice, of course.

But I think this is solely due to the fact that the first from the team won the belt.

There is still work to do.

I would not say that I "destroy" everyone in training.

Today I can beat the same Valentin Moldavsky, and tomorrow he will sleep better and defeat me.

- Now you are the

Bellator

champion

, one of the most successful Russian fighters at the moment.

How great is Emelianenko's merit in this?

- Undoubtedly, Fedor did a lot for me, and it is largely thanks to him that I am in my place.

It gets funny when I remember what my striking technique was before meeting him.

When you achieve success at combat sambo championships, become the champion of Russia and the world, you think that everything is great.

Hands are flying.

And then Emelianenko comes and points out your mistakes.

At this moment, you realize how much more needs to be done.

- Did Emelianenko help exclusively with problems in the stand?

- Not.

He ruled both striking and wrestling techniques, talked a lot about tactics.

- How did you meet Emelianenko?

- I think it was in 2008-2009.

He then prepared for a battle with Brett Rogers.

I went to school, and spent the whole summer at a training camp in Stary Oskol, in the Raduga camp.

At that time Fyodor was studying there.

So we met.

But I doubt he took me seriously back then.

- Why do you think so?

- I was an ordinary schoolboy then.

I haven't won anything yet.

- What do you remember from the first conversation?

- As far as I remember, we didn't even talk much.

We just met.

He was told, they say, it's brother Viti.

- When did you start to contact more closely?

- While preparing for his return to MMA in 2015.

I already had several professional fights in my track record, I was the world champion in sambo.

Moreover, Emelianenko was the second at the planetary championship in Japan.

Probably, then Fedor began to understand that something could come of me.

- You played with Emelianenko at the

Rizin

New Year tournament

, and you participated in the Grand Prix, which is why you fought twice in three days.

In the second duel, you lost to Jiri Prochazka.

Don't you think you shouldn't have agreed to participate in such a grueling event?

- Not.

But it was necessary to prepare differently.

I knew about the Rizin Grand Prix in advance, but a month and a half before it I fought at the World Combat Sambo Championship.

There was very little time for preparation, besides, I could not stand such heat.

- For you it was the first defeat in your career.

How did you react?

- I was very upset then, but Fedor supported me.

He said that everything happens.

Then we analyzed my mistakes.

- What were they?

- The main thing was that I entered the ring and immediately began to operate at maximum speed, but it was necessary to save energy.

- In 2019, you took part in combat sambo tournaments.

How do you manage to combine this with MMA?

- In 2017, he received the title of Honored Master of Sports, reached a high level.

Since then I have not performed any special training before combat sambo competitions.

We hold one training camp and go to the championship.

- Do you have a desire to compete at the Russian Championship in 2021?

- There is no goal to participate in the tournament by all means.

If the schedule allows, then I will go.

- With what do you connect the fact that people from combat sambo are more and more successful in MMA?

- A fighter must be comprehensively developed to win.

To be strong both in the “strike” and in the fight.

From childhood, we learn to be effective in both aspects.

For example, representatives of some other types of martial arts often become one-sided.

Either they fight well in a standing position or on the ground.

- Fedor has always been noted as a sensitive mentor who pays a lot of attention to his teammates.

Do you think that at the end of his career Emelianenko could fully engage in coaching?

- I think he is capable of achieving success in the coaching field.

He has everything for this.

But when it comes to studying with us, there may be some problems.

As far as I know, the fighters themselves do not really want to leave the Belgorod region.

We like everything here.

Fedor recently moved to Moscow, built a house.

Let's see how things go.

- According to preliminary information, at the beginning of 2021 Fedor should hold another fight.

So far nothing is known about a possible rival?

- Not yet.

They are looking for.

- With whom would you like to see Emelianenko fight?

- I do not even know.

I heard that Fabricio Werdum would not mind fighting him.

It would be a very interesting and beautiful rematch.

- Who would you include among the strongest fighters in the history of MMA?

- I would put Fedor in the first place.

And the rest of the fighters would be difficult to put in their places.

But I would include Khabib Nurmagomedov, Daniel Cormier, Stipe Miocic, John Jones in this rating.

I think Conor McGregor deserves to be on the list too.

The Irishman made mixed martial arts famous.

- Recently, McGregor's contribution to the development of mixed martial arts has been increasingly underestimated ...

- In my opinion, this is a mistake.

McGregor is a very fast, explosive athlete and has demonstrated on numerous occasions that he is very strong.

He compensated for his shortcomings in wrestling with skills in striking technique.

- Would you like to see a revenge between Nurmagomedov and McGregor?

- It seems to me that it makes no sense.