- At the
AMC
Fight
Nights 100 tournament,
you will play the second defense of the welterweight title against Goyti Dazaev.
How do you assess your condition before the fight?
- I would not like to embellish, say that everything was great, magical.
In fact, the training camp turned out to be very difficult - physically and mentally.
In the course of preparation, he became very seriously ill: he caught a cold and subsequently reacted negligently to this.
I had to lie down at home, but I went to workout and it only got worse.
I had to sit on antibiotics.
In addition, the training process itself was quite difficult.
Very heavy loads, I hope that in the end all this will bear fruit.
- What is the most difficult thing during preparation?
- When it is necessary to carry out two workouts a day.
I worked the first one, went for a massage, slept a little and ran to the second one.
After that, you come home completely exhausted.
It can also be extremely difficult when you just roll into the training process.
The training camp has already begun, there is a certain plan that must be followed, but your body is still resting.
And so every day you just survive: you fight badly and fight in a standing position, you quickly fizzle out.
Psychologically and physically, this is the hardest part.
And this period stretches for two to three weeks.
- Was the end of the training more positive?
- Of course, and the main reason for this was the birth of a daughter.
This happened immediately after the end of the main stage of preparation - during weight loss.
As if my daughter was specially waiting for this moment, did not distract me from the training process.
I think this is a good sign.
- Surely this event is an additional motivation for you.
- Certainly.
It gives energy, strength.
It is difficult to convey in words what I feel now.
- Recently you have
a video on Instagram in which you train with your son.
How do you feel about this?
- This is my eldest son, and the situation with him is quite difficult.
My relationship with my ex-wife is rather complicated, so I rarely get to see him.
The last time I spent time with him was in September.
Of course I miss you very much.
- How would you react if someday one of your children comes up to you and says that he wants to follow in your footsteps and become a professional fighter.
- As soon as my son was born, I had the hope that I would be able to teach him to defend, if not the honor of his country, then at least relatives and friends.
As for the career, it all depends on the child himself.
If he wants to do MMA - good, no - I will not force him.
I believe that I should set an example, and the choice is theirs.
In this regard, I remember my father, who was a very powerful motivator.
He was strict and strong.
It always amazed me that dad knew how to walk in his arms.
I never learned, although as a child I had a quirk on this.
I tried every day.
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- Do you think the fact that their father is a famous fighter will affect the lives of your children? Will they have to face certain difficulties because of this, as was the case with the same hero of the movie "Rocky Balboa"?
- At the moment, this does not have a serious effect.
However, this year the eldest son is going to be sent to school, and I think that in theory this may somehow affect him.
Still, kids are watching YouTube now.
Of course, I am not Conor McGregor or Khabib Nurmagomedov, but the people, albeit a little bit, know about me.
Therefore, I think that in the future it will not be easy for him.
- What influenced the decision to become a fighter?
- I think, in many ways, that in childhood I was brought up on the right films - "Rocky", various tapes with Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Subsequently, I watched the fights with the participation of Fedor Emelianenko, Oleg Taktarov, Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz and thought: "What are they cool."
At the same time, I myself did not plan to become an athlete, but only wanted to be able to protect myself and loved ones, if it ever needed.
I never imagined that I would fight in the main battle of a numbered tournament of a major Russian promotion.
Now I understand that I would be very grateful if as a child I was taken to Brazil or Dagestan, sent to wrestling or boxing.
Previously, children did not have the opportunities that they have now.
The child can go anywhere, there are plenty of various sections, teams, circles.
Personally, I started to engage in hand-to-hand combat only in the 10th grade, when I began to earn my own money.
- How did you end up becoming a professional?
- That was the fate.
Once I met with Denis Klopnev, at that time one of the organizers of Fight Nights.
Had to pick up tickets for friends.
At that moment I played for amateurs and just recently fought at the next tournament, so I came with a black eye.
He asked: "How did it end?"
I said that I lost to Gena Zuev - he then worked as a judge on that show.
Denis looked, and Gena had a fingal on half of his face.
He asked: "Are you like that?"
I nodded and he invited me to compete in one of the future tournaments.
So I got into Fight Nights.
So I didn't have to run after someone or ask.
Conjuncture.
- For many fighters, their passion for martial arts began with watching a certain fight. Are you not one of them?
- No, in my case it is more like memories from childhood.
The films "Mortal Kombat", "In Search of Adventure" with the same Van Damme made a strong impression on me.
However, personally, my karate classes somehow did not go well.
I was not attracted by the philosophy of this martial art.
I like to fight more than all that beauty, ironed kimonos, properly tied belts.
- Therefore, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Gi are also not yours?
- No, I would not compare it.
Everything is completely different there.
After training, you can squeeze out the gi, and during the lesson it does not matter at all whether your belt is straightened.
In BJJ, the most important thing is to win, not to bring beauty.
- Talking about childhood memories. In the hall, you often appear in a rashguard with the image of the Batman emblem. Favorite superhero?
- Probably, from the heroes of comics, he is closest to me, because he is not a superhero at all.
An ordinary person is just in good physical shape.
Remember, in the "Justice League", when answering the question about his superpowers, he calls money.
In my case, it is not, of course
(laughs)
.
But Bruce Wayne has his own principles: he fights for justice, is forced to make difficult decisions in order to help others.
In my opinion, Batman is a good example.
Despite the fact that you have a lot of money, you must follow certain postulates, adhere to the norms of morality.
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- Returning to your fight with Dazaev. Your fight will close the show, and your former opponent, Shamil Amirov, will perform in the second fight of the evening. Don't
you think that all this was done for the sake of organizing a revenge between you?
- At Fight Nights 100, Amirov will fight for the lightweight title.
Therefore, first he needs to win this battle, and I'm not sure that he will succeed.
If we imagine that everything will work out for him, then why not?
I am waiting for him.
In the end, it was Shamil who decided to descend into a related category, not me.
- By and large, the outcome of your fight with Amirov reminded the ending of the fight between Peter Yan and Aljamein Sterling. Didn't you have a sense of déjà vu when you watched this fight?
- Certainly.
Very similar episodes and diametrically opposite decisions of the judges.
It should be borne in mind that at the time the battle was stopped, Amirov had two verbal warnings and a yellow card.
Consequently, this knee blow should have resulted in his disqualification.
- During the tournament, the panel of judges did not see any violations in Amirov's actions and awarded him a victory, but after consulting with independent foreign referees, the fight was declared invalid. Do you know how the votes were distributed?
- Two points were considered here at once.
As for the outcome of the fight, all five foreign referees expressed the opinion that our referees unjustly gave the victory to Amirov, and declared the fight invalid.
At the same time, two of them decided that the battle could not be stopped after a knee blow.
In their opinion, he should have been declared prohibited and shown a second yellow card to Shamil.
In this case, he would have been disqualified, and I would have been awarded the victory.
- Is it known who was part of these judges?
- I will not name them by name, but they were not the most famous arbiters.
Herb Dean, Mike Goddard and the like were not among them.
- Why?
- As far as I know, the star judges, for one reason or another, refused to take part in this.
The story with the selection of the referee lasted a long time.
- At the end of your fight, a real farce was going on in the cage. Kamil Hajiyev demanded that the judges make a decision, but they could not do it, they passed the microphone to each other. How did you feel then?
- First, a thought flashed through my mind: "Well, that's it, the kid has sailed."
Then I could not even think that he would be given the victory by knockout.
And then some kind of mess began.
It seems to me that one of the main problems not only in Russian MMA, but in the country as a whole, is that people are trying to shift the responsibility to others - their higher authorities, other employees, someone to Putin, someone else to someone else.
In fact, only Kamil entered the cage and said that someone needed to hand the belt.
In addition, I was surprised that the judges watched the replays, but even that did not help them make the right decision.