“Fedya has tempting numbers, so he fights.” Sergei Spivak trained with Emelianenko’s team and fought with Ngannou

Sergei Spivak, 28, has a 6-3 win-loss ratio in the UFC and a very tough test ahead of him. You have to beat Derrick Lewis. Huge heavyweight who’s fought almost every UFC best: beat Francis Ngannou and Curtis Blades, lost to Daniel Cormier and Junior dos Santos, is 3:1 in personal encounters with Russian fighters.

In the heavyweight rankings of the UFC, Spivak is in 12th place, but because of the desire to develop, he managed to train in the halls of Alexander Volkov, Fedor Emelianenko and the already mentioned Francis Ngannou , who Spivak may have had more sparring with than anyone else. Spivak and Lewis will fight at the UFC in Las Vegas on February 4.

– They say that when you fight with a puncher, you can psychologically shrink a bit because of the feeling that you can be knocked out at any time.

“I don’t think about it and I don’t need to think about it. I’m already competing at heavyweight, and there’s a lot of guys with big punches, so we’re already living, training and looking keys for everyone.

– Who imitated Derrick Lewis in sparring for you?

— There were similar guys who have the same style. I didn’t ask to be directly imitated, they just tried to hit hard, they tried to knock me out. These are not the most famous guys, amateur sports, combat sambo, someone is even a champion of an organization.

What do you think motivates Derrick Lewis to fight you at 38, with three losses in four fights?

I don’t know what motivates him. I think I have to go out and win. I have projects and I want to realize them. Everyone wants to become a UFC champion – I’m no exception.

– Almost all the best Russian fighters fought with Lewis. Did you ask anyone about it?

No, I didn’t. What purpose? He fights with each fighter in his own way. And they each have their own keys. Volkov fights in the rack, Seryoga [Павлович] maybe in the rack and in the stalls. Shamil [Абдурахимов] – in the rack. We are very different.

– Alexander Romanov and Volkov will fight on March 11, you both know them. What do you expect from their fight?

– In fact, we only crossed Romanov once, we fought around the turn. I don’t know. Both are good guys, God help both, let it be that for the first time both win.

– You trained with Ngannou (former UFC heavyweight champion – About “”), did the skills from those workouts in front of Lewis come in handy and did you work with him on that workout?

– No, he wasn’t in Las Vegas now, and I don’t train in the gym where he used to train.

– … and we have the feeling that they box a little differently with Lewis?

“Ngannou didn’t hit me hard to compare, but they’re completely different. Derrick only has one right hand, while Francis has two hands and can punch both. Judging by the fights.

– You went to fight with professional boxer Joe Joyce. Did you try to train with professional boxers afterwards?

“Joyce wasn’t there but now we had another guy in the gym who was something like 8-1 in boxing. In my opinion he’s from Samoa, he’s performed a lot as an amateur, it seems like even the Olympic cycle is over. And he too was in Joyce’s camp. A good boxer, we managed to train.

– Given your experience, do you think that Ngannou will find it difficult to adapt in boxing?

– He is a hard working guy, so if he participates in boxing, if he only trains in boxing and learns something, he will be beaten. Of course, if you’re going to a really big fight with Tyson Fury now, it’s going to be tough. And if you have a few fights and then fight Fury, that might be easier. I don’t know how interested he is.

Have you seen him drop someone with big gloves?

“I honestly haven’t seen him. Guys say he works hard, but he boxed with me in both MMA and boxing gloves, and there was nothing like it. It works cleanly , In fact.

– You said the last time that you even imagine the date of Ngannou’s fight in the UFC, but a few weeks after this conversation, Ngannou left the organization. How did it happen?

– Well, this date was scheduled for him, which Cyril Gun and John Jones would fight now (March 4, Gun and Jones will determine the UFC heavyweight champion. Previously, Jones was the undisputed champion of the category light heavyweight, and Gun was the interim heavyweight champion – Note “”). See, we disagreed, as it turned out. He was supposed to fight Jones in March. Probably, it did not work according to the conditions.

– What do you think, who will become the champion in your weight: Jones or Gan?

We haven’t seen Jones for a long time, but Gan is performing more often. If you take this Jones, I think it’s more versatile and better. You have to see what form it is in.

– You trained in Stary Oskol with Fedor Emelianenko. Fedor is 46, you are 28. Can you imagine fighting at 46?

– I didn’t train with Fedor, but I spent a lot of time in Stary Oskol, training with his guys. I still can’t imagine myself at 46, but Fedya has some tantalizing numbers there, that’s what he’s fighting for.

– So why not compete if you can knock out people your students are fighting with in five rounds?

– I don’t deny if he has a love for this sport, if he’s lived it all his life and misses it, why not? But money also plays a big role. Let’s say if you can make life easier for your family. When you’re paid six zeros, that’s not bad.

– In general, at 46 it’s hard to imagine yourself in a fight, but if at 46 they offer a million dollars for a fight, then you might think?

– Honestly, I would like a business to make money for me, and I wouldn’t have fought at that age. I won’t guess, we’ll see how life goes.

– UFC fights so far cover real-time needs?

– Yes quite. You can support yourself and your family, and no one else to work for.

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