“They wanted to pull Sasha out of the abyss”: Burchak - about the revival of Emelianenko, a knockout from Datsik and the upcoming fight with Yerkaev

- The choice of the head of the Arena pop-MMA promotion Sergey Yerkaev as the closest rival of Alexander Emelianenko raised questions from many fans, since he is not a professional fighter.

What is the reason for meeting with him?

- They specifically made this fight to attract attention to themselves: they want people to know both about their organization and about Yerkaev himself.

The offer came almost immediately after the defeat from Vyacheslav Datsik.

As I understand it, Sergey, having seen a quick knockout, decided that Alexander is not in the best shape and today is not the most dangerous opponent, whom he will easily pass.

The man decided to combine business with pleasure: to promote himself and Arena at the expense of Emelianenko.

It was beneficial for us to accept the challenge so as not to make long pauses.

Sasha gained excellent condition, but Datsik did not cause serious damage to his health.

So he didn't even get a concussion?

- Yes.

He was carefully examined by doctors and found no problems.

Although the fall looked hard enough, it turned out to be not so scary.

It's just that a person has three special points on his chin, a nerve, hitting which you can instantly turn it off.

Vyacheslav succeeded.

Even in slow motion, you can see how well he hit right on the edge of the chin.

This is a heavy weight, and one hit here is able to put an end to it in an instant.

- How useful will the fight with Yerkaev be for Emelianenko from a sports point of view?

If he prevails, the fans will take it for granted, but the defeat will be considered a shame.

- I repeat, Alexander just needs to fight and show that he is gradually picking up speed and staying in shape.

Just the same, giving him a strong opponent at the moment is wrong.

After all, if Sasha suffers a second defeat in a row, it will become even worse.

And here he will have a great opportunity to move, breathe.

The victory will give confidence and a positive attitude for the future.

Plus, Emelianenko, in order not to break loose, it is vital to be in a state of constant preparation for battles.

He needs to have no time to rest.

- Now he continues daily training?

- Of course.

Alexander, as he did, continues to do it, maintaining a working condition.

The only thing is that we slightly changed tactics to suit Yerkaev's strengths.

- How can an amateur surprise an athlete of this level?

- Sergey does not have a knockout blow.

We watched one of his interviews, and there he said that he last performed at the age of 18.

Now he is 30. He regularly visits the hall, but it is one thing to hit a pear, and another to hold fights.

Therefore, now Sasha and I switched to the format of constant sparring.

Yerkaev, judging by the video, has good kicks: he can perform high-kick and low-kick at a high level.

Plus, he will focus on deceptive movements.

We agreed on a fight according to the rules of MMA, but the time spent on the ground will be limited to 20 seconds.

- How did Emelianenko himself react to the choice of an opponent?

Nevertheless, they wrote that he could get along with Antonio Silva.

- The meeting with Bigfoot was not planned so early.

So far, in a very big theory, it will take place in December, possibly later.

Sasha, on the contrary, was glad to once again enter the octagon.

In addition, the match will be held in a stadium format at the CSKA Arena.

- Surely, Arena managed to attract your client, including thanks to a solid contract.

According to media reports, he received 10 million rubles for the confrontation with Datsik.

Now we are talking about a comparable amount?

- Firstly, Alexander earned more for the fight with Datsik.

As for the fight with Yerkaev, we have no right to disclose the components of the contract.

Will his reward exceed 5 million rubles?

Yes.

We are talking about the standard fee for Emelianenko.

- Until the end of the year, he will not meet with anyone else, except for the president of Arena and, possibly, Silva?

“There isn't much time left.

Plus, Bigfoot will require specific preparation.

Most likely, we will go to Yekaterinburg again.

It is simply impossible to sign a contract with a Brazilian and go into the cage the next day.

We proceed from the incoming proposals, but so far negotiations are underway with Antonio.

Perhaps in the near future there will be another option, but this is a secret.

- How interesting is Silva himself?

- Still, we have already “warmed up” this confrontation and even arranged a sterdown for them in the summer during one of the Hardcore events.

I think a rather intriguing story comes out in terms of revenge for the elder brother Fedor, who lost to the Latin American (in February 2011. -

).

In short, it can be untwisted with might and main.

In addition, both lost to Datsik.

You get a great cut for highlights.

Finally, let's not forget that Bigfoot is also not in perfect shape and has suffered a series of knockout losses, including from the Russians.

- Will the fans in this case get a meeting of "downed pilots", even if they have big names?

- The audience just didn’t understand yet that Emelianenko is now in much better shape than before the fight with Marcio Santos last year, not to mention the fight with Artyom Tarasov.

Yes, he was defeated by Datsik, but the reason was a gross tactical error.

He didn't have to start fighting with his opponent.

But for some reason Sasha decided that he would kill Vyacheslav.

As an example, we can recall the ex-glory champion Saulo Cavalari, whom Red Tarzan also knocked out.

Has his career gone downhill now?

- Emelianenko has repeatedly repeated that he intends to take revenge.

Are there negotiations on it?

- Not at the moment.

Firstly, such fights are not done so quickly.

Secondly, the return match will cost more than the first.

Their struggle can be compared with the confrontation between Vladimir Mineev and Magomed Ismailov, the second and third parts of which the audience was waiting for with increasing interest.

Now it is just important for Sasha to prove that he is not a “downed pilot”.

Probably, after two or three victories, it will make sense to start discussing revenge.

But it is a priori beneficial to all parties.

- But Datsik agreed to hold it while still in the cage.

- Objectively, he could not answer otherwise.

We need to see how his future career develops.

The head of Hardcore Anatoly Sulyanov at a press conference before the fight promised that the winner would meet with Ismailov, but not the fact that this would happen.

Magomed is now moving in a different direction and, according to the rules of boxing, will fight Alexander Ilic.

The red-haired Tarzan, apart from the name Emelianenko, is not so interesting to the public.

Before the duel with Alexander, he had not the most curious fights.

As far as I know, he is offered different options, but there is nothing special about them.

AMC Fight Night light heavyweight champion Vagab Vagabov won't feel it.

Nobody wants a rematch with Cavalari.

In theory, Vyacheslav was supposed to face Dmitry Kudryashov in the final of the Pravda Grand Prix, but the ex-world boxing champion ended his career.

He has only one really intriguing poster:

- If we return to Alexander, in what moral state was he after the defeat?

A lot of work was done to restore and get in shape, and it all ended with a knockout at the 13th second.

It's hard not to give up after this.

- Since Sasha is a believer, he took what happened for granted.

He treated the defeat as given from above, decided that he needed it in order to reconsider the approach to assessing opponents and himself.

It is clear that there was a disorder, but I don’t see anything wrong with that.

Sports remain sports.

Today you fight, tomorrow you don't.

Yet Alexander is not 25 years old, and the career will not last forever.

Therefore, Emelianenko and I were not motivated at all by Datsik, but by the desire to pull Sasha out of the abyss.

And it succeeded.

Next, we were faced with the task of keeping Alexander busy with other things and at the same time fighting, based on his form.

It's not that there's a rigid schedule, as long as he doesn't get drunk.

There are just no problems here.

Alexander himself evaluates everything objectively.

In addition, now he has new goals in his life, for example, in terms of shopping.

He will be getting married soon.

Nobody is going to go in cycles in sports.

- So now you have no fears that a breakdown will occur?

“I can’t be responsible for a person, because anything can happen.

But I have been with him for a long time, since the moment when last year he went to the training camp in Karachay-Cherkessia after another hard drinking bout.

And I can say absolutely clearly: Emelianenko is in the best morale for all the time that I have known him.

- But then Alexander also stated that he had quit drinking alcohol, actively fought and reconciled with his wife.

He ended up drinking again.

How is the current situation different?

- I can answer this question, because I was with him in Karachay-Cherkessia.

In my opinion, then there was not quite the right approach to the restoration of Sasha.

He came to some tourist base in the mountains and just trained.

Now, professional doctors and professional athletes took part in the process, clearly describing all the steps.

And here we are not talking about the active use of pharmaceuticals.

It seems to me that no one has ever done such a volume of analytical work on Emelianenko's health.

We started with global analyzes (MRI, blood, and others) and not only included "chemistry", but, on the contrary, removed even the usual amino acids that are actively used by all fighters.

Based on the medical approach, we determined what should be excluded and what should be added.

Notice how much Alexander lost weight.

He also began to pay serious attention to nutrition.

Everyone did their best.

I especially want to note the doctor Anton Poddubny, who made a great contribution to the restoration of Sasha, Ivan Shtyrkov, the RCC Academy.

Because of this, it was really a shame: they did a huge amount of work, but did not have time to show anything.

- What now helps Emelianenko not to return to drinking alcohol?

- Firstly, a doctor who is professionally versed in this problem is constantly in touch with him.

He gives some medication advice to help the athlete fight cravings and avoid relapse.

Plus, I repeat, his morale is now completely different than before.

In the course of preparation for the duel with Datsik in Yekaterinburg, Alexander was surrounded by the right people, his wife was nearby.

Now he has completely different goals in life.

Finally, it is very important that even after returning to the cage he was not left alone, as happened last year.

It is not surprising that then Sasha returned to where he started.

Now everyone continues to help him.

We will actively organize various confrontations with him.

So far, Emelianenko is moving in the right direction.