The story of the Romanov fighter in MMA
Alexander Volkov has alternated wins and losses since 2021 and takes eighth in the heavyweight rankings UFC. Alexander Romanov, who plays for Moldova, but has excellent Russian, – 13th of the same classification.
Their careers are as different as it gets: Volkov entered MMA through subcultural disciplines like karate and hand-to-hand combat, but in mixed martial arts the Russian has long seen all options for victories and defeats.
Romanov competed at a serious level in freestyle wrestling, switched to MMA when Volkov was already a UFC fighter, and lost in his last fight for the first time in 17 professional fights. Additionally, Romanov lost to an opponent Volkov overtook a year ago, beating by decision.
Picture: © Chris Unger/Contributor/UFC/Gettyimages.com a photo
More importantly, this fight seems really unpredictable. Volkov himself sometimes gives victories to his rivals for complex reasons. Romanov looks like he hasn’t been shot in any big fights yet. Volkov still doesn’t have a perfect wrestling defense. Romanov gives chances to his opponents from a standing position. They will fight in Las Vegas on March 11 ahead of Peter Yan and Merab Dvalishvili. Volkov’s manager Ivan Bannikov explains why this fight happened:
– We have been waiting for an opponent for a very long time, as always, we asked Lewis, Lewis does not want to fight with us. At one point, Sasha hadn’t had a fight and an opponent in so long that we were already ready to fight anyone, just fight. Also, all these events with Ngannou (the champion, Francis Ngannou did not defend the belt for 11 months, and in mid-January he refused to continue cooperation with UFC – ), there is no had no title fights, in principle everything froze. We asked for someone higher in the rankings, but everyone who was higher fought earlier, and they gave us this one. Not the best fight, but there was no other option yet.
– How long did you wait?
– It’s been months. We started negotiations this summer, after the Sasha fight (Volkov’s last fight was on June 4 against Jairzinho Rozenstruik – “”), but, apparently, they had problems with the selection of heavy opponents .
Alexander said he had his appendix removed in December.
– Yes, and we agreed to fight with Romanov, and Sasha had appendicitis. You understand that the consent comes from us and that the announcement [от UFC]they are very strongly separated in time.
– What do you think of the opponent?
– Romanov is a great fighter, a basic wrestler, but I think Sasha has been a versatile person for a long time and that stigma of someone who doesn’t like wrestlers needs to be taken away from him. Yes, an uncomfortable opponent, but, I repeat, we had no such choice out of three, but we would have chosen Romanov. It was the only option.
– With whom will Alexander in the United States prepare for the fight with Romanov?
– In the Black House with him is Kenny Johnson, one of the best wrestling coaches in the United States. Taras Kiyashko flew to America yesterday. Sasha has kept herself in shape all this time, and there is rather a problem with training partners – there are not many big guys. But this problem is also under our control.
– Do not you think that Sergei Pavlovich replaced Volkov in the role of the “main Russian hero” in the top heavyweight?
In any case, we are happy for Sergei and look forward to his victories. He was able to do what Sasha failed to do. If Sasha beat Lewis, he could fight for the belt in the next fight. Sergei succeeded, but Sasha’s path turned out to be more thorny. Anyway, it’s great when there are CIS fighters in the top, even if they have to fight each other. Its good. We hope that if the fight between Sasha and Sergey happens, it will only be a fight for the belt. I want them both to become UFC champions.
– In 2013, Volkov fought for the Bellator belt with Minakov. It would be ironic if in 2023 he fought for the UFC belt with Pavlovich.
It’s possible, it’s a sport. But such a fight would be interesting for people – when a puncher fights a technical fighter. Now Serezha and Sasha need this fight the least because they’ve been through this fight hundreds of times in combat.
– Regardless of Volkov, has it become more difficult now to transfer fight fees if you are a Russian citizen and need money in Russia?
– You open a US bank account, the UFC transfers money to you. This must be a bank that accepts money into the organization’s account. And there are now banks in Russia that still make and accept money transfers from the United States. Unfortunately, there are still more serious issues than getting royalties.
Source : MatchTV
I am Ashley Ortiz and I am a professional journalist working for Athletistic. My specialty is in sports journalism, particularly boxing. I have written articles for some of the most renowned publications on the subject, and my work has been featured across both print and digital media platforms.
