“The probability of our fight with Magomed is much higher”: Erkaev about Ismailov-Emelianenko revenge and transferring the Arena tournament

- Your duel with Alexander Emelianenko promised to be one of the main events of November in Russian martial arts.

But in less than a week, the tournament was postponed due to "non-coordination of one of the bodies."

Now can you tell what exactly happened?

- There is no new information yet.

On October 11, a general meeting was held at the CSKA Arena with the state authorities of the capital.

All authorities, except one, gave permission to arrange the Arena tournament.

What was the reason for the transfer?

- Due to the inability to allocate personnel to ensure security during the show.

That was the official answer.

"So the problem wasn't on your end?"

- We are looking into this issue.

I think everything will become clear in the next few days.

- Have you already decided on the approximate dates for which the tournament can be rescheduled?

“Now I can’t say exactly when it will take place.

Many issues need to be resolved, in particular with the site.

Until the end of the year, the capital has a very busy schedule of events.

We will select the most convenient date so that it would be beneficial for us from a financial point of view and at the same time provide the opportunity to broadcast on television.

At the same time, we plan to arrange a tournament in 2022.

— Surely this is not the most pleasant scenario for promotion, which entails certain financial costs.

How serious are they?

- In this case, we got by with little blood, because we learned about everything in a week.

If it had happened later, they would have stuck more seriously.

Of course, the promotion suffered financial losses.

But all advertisers, partners and investors got into the situation and rallied even more.

I think this will give us the opportunity to better prepare for this event and hold it at a higher level.

- For your promotion, the tournament at the CSKA Arena was supposed to be the largest in history.

How difficult was it to organize it?

— From the point of view of production, filming, it is no different from the previous ones.

We regularly host such shows and we know how to do it well.

This time, we also had to resolve issues with seats, the sale and distribution of tickets, as well as the issuance of permits, which eventually became a stumbling block.

- Compared to your ordinary tournaments, how much more money was needed to organize a show at the CSKA Arena?

- Twice as much.

- You probably saw how some users reacted to the news about the transfer of the show in your community on VKontakte.

Many of the comments were more than negative.

What is the reason for this, in your opinion?

— I was not surprised.

People do not need the truth, but the opportunity to wash the bones, dig into someone else's underwear.

In fact, nothing terrible happened.

And first of all, the fighters who planned to fight in November, got in shape, and held training camps should be indignant.

In fact, it was the athletes who entered the situation, behaved as correctly as possible.

For many others, this has become an extra reason to slander.

You can't get away from the hate, that's to be expected.

Nothing has changed for my team.

We dusted ourselves off and moved on.

- Hearing about the transfer, many probably thought that Alexander Emelianenko was the reason.

Now can you assure the fans that the problem is definitely not in him?

- I am not in touch with Emelianenko 24/7.

But we are in close contact with his manager Nikita Burchak, we are interested in how the preparation is going.

And he regularly assures me that Alexander feels very well, has brought himself into shape.

He does not drink alcohol and is sober.

As far as I know, now he is very actively engaged in various cases.

Buys an apartment.

In this sense, he does not fail.

This situation gives him even more opportunities to approach the fight in perfect condition, to heal a sprained leg.

- After the defeat from Vyacheslav Datsik, surrounded by Emelianenko, they assured that he had not received serious injuries and was in good condition.

According to your information, how true is this?

- First of all, I asked about the state of health of Emelianenko.

The manager assured me that they had done all the necessary medical examinations.

There are no contraindications for performances.

I believe that he is ready for battle - both physically and mentally.

- How did Emelianenko himself react to the news about the postponement of the tournament?

- Naturally, before the publication of the official announcement, we met with Burchak.

We discussed this issue.

Obviously, it wasn't well received at first.

Each fighter has a training plan, other points.

But we managed to solve all the problems on the move. 

— You said that you will try to strengthen the Arena tournament card with new big names.

Already managed to do this?

— Agreed with Shamil Pakhan Galimov and Kharun Boziev.

Most likely, they will also perform in the stadium show.

Initially, this battle was supposed to take place under the auspices of another league - in the finals of the Hype Fighting Grand Prix.

I think this is a very good enhancement.

Fans are waiting for the fight.

- Over the past few days, several Russian fighters have left the UFC at once - Askar Askarov, Magomed Mustafaev and Alexei Oleinik.

How realistic is their performance at the Arena and are you interested in them?

We are moving towards professional fights.

Gradually we will remove freak fights, rely on experienced athletes.

Yes, blogging fights will remain in one volume or another.

This is our audience, we are loved for it.

We cannot suddenly take and change direction.

But the path of development is determined.

And the same Askarov, Mustafaev and Oleinik are already on our pencil.

We are considering their applications.

I am sure that in the near future you will notice how the battles in our promotion will reach a fundamentally new level.

- Now in Russia there is very high competition in terms of pop-MMA and pop-boxing.

And in terms of popularity, the Arena promotion is clearly inferior to Hardcore

“Actually, there are a lot of tools.

We do it with their help.

They signed Maurice Boleyan, the same Emelianenko.

We find common ground, use our strengths.

For example, Top Dog specializes in fisticuffs, and not everyone wants to fight according to these rules, especially MMA fighters.

Hardcore FC also focuses on camming, boxing, and the card of their mixed martial arts events is not rubber.

Again, there are certain differences between us and Hardcore FC, because of which athletes are more likely to make a choice in our favor.

For example, the financial component, the vector of development.

- What can you say about the league "Our business"?

- Now it is focused mainly on fights with the participation of media personalities, although recently it has also begun to actively attract professionals. 

- In general, how did you come up with the idea to create your own promotion?

- At that time, he owned a network of martial arts centers.

I had coaches, athletes.

There was a desire to make some kind of product.

In addition, there were opportunities for this.

The first tournament was held in our own hall, only a film crew was attracted from outside.

Representatives of my clubs fought among themselves, and coaches judged.

We tried it, we liked it.

After that, we decided to arrange a show of a slightly larger scale.

And then they began to work in Moscow - according to all the canons of pop-MMA.

— To put it briefly, how does Arena promotion differ from its competitors?

- At least the format of the battles.

If Hardcore FC fights are divided by disciplines, then all of us are held according to the same rules.

We also have a restriction on being on the ground - no more than 20 seconds.

Thus, we give the fighters the opportunity to chop in the rack.

For now, this is the key difference.

- But after all, Russian mixed martial arts are largely known for their strong wrestlers.

Look at Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev, Fedor Emelianenko, the same Alexei Oleinik.

Don't you think that because of this rule, many athletes will not want to fight with you?

- Given the intention to move towards professional fights, I do not exclude that in the future I will reconsider my views and cancel this rule.

Perhaps we will have a full stalls.

But I will think about it a little later.

- Initially, your league was called

- 150 - 300 thousand rubles.

The second cost two million, the third - 7.25 million. We invested about 15 million in the organization of subsequent shows.

- Why did you decide to change the name of the league?

— I saw that this brand is going hard, it is not easy for people to remember it.

Therefore, rebranding was considered a necessity.

I think we got it right.

The title should be catchy, simple and clear.

Arena is just that.

- Your first fights took place in the ring with peculiar stylized ropes.

Dog

- Of course, Top Dog has its own style.

And it is impossible to become the second one.

In fact, then it was a necessary measure.

The show was held in a small room, there was no cage or ring.

Nothing else came to mind, except to pull those same ropes.

Of course, each league should have its own unique style.

And now we are working on it.

At the moment we are at the stage of developing our own, unique cell.

- If you look at your

- Actually, it's different.

I wanted to create a sports travel reality show.

There was no purpose to arrange fights within it.

We initially focused on a different audience.

But now I understand that I made a mistake by uploading all this to the main YouTube channel.

Now we are negotiating with online cinemas to broadcast this product there.

There is currently a shortage of travel-related content.

For example, the Eagle and Tails program left the Russian market, so the niche is practically not occupied.

- The host of the first season of Arena Team Reality was Magomed Ismailov.

Have you tried to negotiate with him about performing under the auspices of the promotion?

Yes, we talked.

They offered to organize a boxing fight at the Arena show.

Among the rivals considered the candidacy of Timur Nikulin.

Magomed himself caught fire with this idea, agreed, and his opponent was ready.

But his brother Ramazan Ismailov opposed this.

- Why?

- He said: "Magomed, Timur - this is not your level."

After some time, Ismailov signed a contract for a fight with Alexander Ilic.

- For a long time in Russia they have been waiting for their duel with Alexander Shlemenko, but it seems that they themselves do not really need him.

Both managed to fight with Ilic, and Ismailov also fought with Olanrevaju Durodola at the beginning of the year.

- If both fighters wanted to fight each other, then this battle would have already taken place a long time ago.

It seems to me that there will be no fight between Ismailov and Shlemenko.

Initially, I did not believe in him for various reasons.

The fight was announced a long time ago, but has since been canceled several times.

So there are good reasons for that.

Magomed and Alexander, together with the promotion, "pump" the media, constantly fueling interest in this fight.

Only and everything.

- For what reasons did you not believe in holding this fight?

- I assume that the parties cannot agree with the promotion on money.

Most likely, Magomed has very high demands on the fee.

Perhaps each of the fighters sees serious reputational risks in case of defeat.

Assumes that it will be too difficult to recover from failure.

- If this fight did take place, who would be the favorite?

- Due to the level of struggle, the advantage would be on the side of Magomed.

I think he would just translate Alexander to canvas.

Ismailov has a very high fighting IQ.

He very competently evaluates both his strengths and weaknesses, and his opponent.

He probably understands that in the stand Shlemenko could create serious problems for him, so he would not take risks.

Yes, for some time he would have worked on his feet, but he made a bet on the ground.

And there he could end the duel ahead of schedule.

For example, in the second round.

- Considering your cooperation with Ismailov and Emelianenko, many probably expect to see their revenge at the Arena tournament in the future.

Have you considered the idea of ​​organizing such a fight?

- The probability of our fight with Magomed is much higher than their revenge with Alexander.

- Why?

- After Alexander loses to me, Magomed will have no interest in this fight.

Ismailov himself admitted that he is already following me, he looks not at the head of the promotion, but as a fighter.

Therefore, I see it as quite realistic to hold our full-time duel at the end of 2023.

- Therefore, your fight with Emelianenko is not a one-time action, but only the start of a career in

- Of course, I plan to continue performing.

I understand that I will not just pass, but I will prevail in the battle with Emelianenko.

Although I take it as seriously as possible, I understand the danger.

Whatever one may say, Alexander is a professional fighter, and even more than me in weight by 15 kilograms.

He has a hard hit. 

- In an interview with

“It doesn’t bother me at all, rather it pleases me.

They have every right to hold such an opinion.

For me it serves as additional motivation.

Until now, you have never entered the cage.

Why now?

— I think this is a very correct and logical step both for me and for the promotion.

And we are talking about both the media component and the sports component.

I will not hide, for me it was an extra incentive to get in shape.

I swam, got fat.

Somewhere I smoke an electronic cigarette, somewhere I drink wine - the life of an ordinary Moscow entrepreneur.

This bored me quite a bit.

That's why I decided to go into the cell.

And then I thought that if I fight, then with a strong, well-known opponent, in a fight with which I will feel a serious danger.

- If, after your full-time fight, Emelianenko offers you to celebrate this significant event, would you agree?

- I can accept this offer, but I will not use it.