Four years ago, Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather united two worlds - mixed martial arts and professional boxing with their high-profile duel.
Since then, fighting between representatives of two similar but different sports has become firmly established in sports fashion.
Shows like these have proven incredibly lucrative for their organizers and intriguing for fans.
Sometimes the clash between MMA and boxing happens not only for the huge fees. On December 19, Moscow hosted the “Fight to Save” charity evening, the main event of which was the fight between Ruslan Provodnikov and Ali Bagautinov. The ex-world champion according to the World Boxing Organization (WBO) returned to the ring in order to fight with the former contender for the title of the Absolute Fighting Championship (UFC) and thus help the Dmitry Rogachev Center for Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Immunology.
The idea to hold such a fight arose a year ago.
In January, Bagautinov rebooted his career, starting to perform in the Brave CF promotion, and after defeating Oleg Lichkovakha challenged Provodnikov.
He answered verbally, but for six months talk about the battle died down.
Bagautinov continued to fight according to the rules of MMA, and the former boxer focused on his social activities as a deputy of the KhMAO Duma.
But in July, two athletes still shook hands.
They decided to fight according to the rules of boxing, consisting of five rounds of three minutes.
As a concession to Bagautinov, it was decided to fight in a raid - a kind of hybrid of a cage and a ring.
The MMA fighter admitted that he had long wanted to meet with Provodnikov, as he admired his boxing qualities.
“I remember how on March 16, 2013 I was waiting for the Conduit-Bradley fight.
I have been following him for a long time, in Russia there are few boxers like Ruslan.
I watched the fight and thought: “This is the real standard of Russian boxing.
Rushing forward, not giving up and boxing.
I wish I could have a fight with him. "
It was a dream, now it is becoming a reality.
I agreed to hold the fight according to the rules of boxing and would ask the organizers: leave something from MMA.
At least a cage, "the 36-year-old fighter told the Bookmaker Rating.
The conductors, for their part, said that the fight would be charitable.
The fight was scheduled for December 19 and entered the card of the Open Fighting Championship 15 tournament, held under the motto "Fight to save".
Despite the fact that the fight was announced as not entirely sporting, Bagautinov promised that he would give it all in full.
“Do you think if I start beating Ruslan hard, he will just stand there?
If I don't attack myself, he will.
We are planning an uncompromising felling.
I'm looking forward to.
I am confident in my abilities, I think we will be able to show beautiful boxing, ”said the Sport24 fighter.
With such an uncompromising attitude, Bagautinov was the clear favorite.
At 36, he is still active and fought his last fight on November 6.
A month and a half ago, Bagautinov knocked out Sean Santella in just a minute in the semi-finals of the Brave CF lightweight championship.
In the track record of the native of Dagestan, there is even a title fight in the UFC with Demetrius Johnson - long before Khabib Nurmagomedov, he had a chance to become the first Russian champion of the promotion.
At the same time, for Bagautinov, boxing is not something unknown - in the past he has already held two professional fights.
Conductors have not fought since 2016, when they were defeated by John Molina in the fight for the WBO International title. By that time, Siberian Rocky was already alternating between victories and failures, so another lost fight brought one of the most promising Russian boxers to the end of his career. He agreed to return to the ring only for the sake of helping the children. At the same time, the 37-year-old athlete assured that he was able to quickly get in shape so as not to hit his face in the dirt.
“I was lucky that in five years I did not degrade, did not lie on the couch with a beer, did not spit at the ceiling. Look, I'm in great shape. I have three boys, for whom I am an example. You can only educate by example and through overcoming - I adhere to such fundamental principles. If you want something, work today so that you don't need anything tomorrow. Therefore, I am in excellent physical shape, I only needed sparring sessions to feel the distance, the blows, "- said Provodnikov to Gazeta.Ru.
Contrary to forecasts, the former world boxing champion set the course for the fight. He spent the entire first round in the attack, pressing Bagautinov to the ropes. There were retaliatory blows from the opponent's side, but did not cause any damage to Siberian Rocky. But after the break, the MMA fighter opened up, having received the first instructions from the corner. He began to counterattack more violently and immediately retreat to the side, bypassing the blows of Provodnikov. The prospect of being locked in a corner no longer scared him so much, and several times he fought out of there. At the same time, Bagautinov inflicted a small cut on the opponent.
But this did not break Provodnikov.
The former boxer took over the initiative again in the third round.
Had there been more strength in his blows, Bagautinov would have started having problems, but he continued to endure the attacks of the enemy.
In physical condition, both were equal and sometimes exchanged sharp blows.
At some point, Bagautinov got tired of this, and he almost used the MMA trick on Provodnikov, but he stopped, noticing the indignation of the referee and the audience.
The fight until the last did not justify the status of a charity - the athletes fought seriously until all the time expired.
The judges had to determine who nevertheless prevailed, and the Conductors won by a split decision.
After that, he once again assured that he would now leave the sport completely, and refused to rematch according to the rules of MMA.