If you turned on the television in the zero years, you probably saw Bruce Khlebnikov. A boy with long hair who can pull a plane with it and, during breaks, tear apart heating pads with his lungs. Khlebnikov also tore up phone books with his hands, sat on a string with extra weight and lifted everything that was most unbearable.
The modern-day violent internet thinks Bruce wasn’t just blowing hot water bottles and raises the thorny question of whether the stunts were real. Bruce replies that everything was exactly as seen in the video, even though he himself had long been in combat. Since the spring of last year, he has fought twice in boxing and lost both times.
We talk in the locker room after the defeat of Aziz Nurillaev. Khlebnikov lost at the Pravda boxing tournament in Krasnogorsk by TKO in the third round. Bruce says he was ready to win, if not for the breath.
“I rested in Dubai for six months… precisely. I came to Russia, they say to me: “Are you going to fight in two weeks?” I say, “I will.” But it is clear that I have no leeway. So everything else is fine with me, I saw all the blows, when they hit me – I didn’t feel it. And I died, I didn’t have enough breath to carry out attacks. No blows: I didn’t feel anything on the body, I didn’t feel anything. In combat, I take such blows that I fly on my ass, and I don’t even feel dizzy.
— What was the funniest day in six months in Dubai?
I went there with cash for five days. But five days later, he decided to stay. And there was no more money. I already have a debt for the hotel, there is nothing. And I just went in the morning to get to know everyone, and in the evening I already had a group of 15 people. Started training. Then he sold his car, my famous Volga. And I’ve been hanging out there since October: training people on street sports grounds. I learned DJing there – I love music – I just want to upload some tracks, I’m thinking of a nickname, maybe it will be DJ Bruce, and if there is already one, then DJ Bruce 777 .
How do you live now?
– Here and there. Also, I am actively studying the world of cryptography, I no longer train people.
– The last time you boxed with the master of boxing sports. Now with a bodyguard.
– Aziz and I had a normal conversation, he usually thought that I would win against him. He’s such an easy opponent, plus I just didn’t have time to prepare well. I dragged more.
– When I was 10, I saw on TV how you tear up directories and pull cars with your hair. At 25 years old (end of 2013), I came to you for an interview in a fitness club in Schelkovskaya. What happened between these two events in your life?
– I just got tired of the attention at some point and that’s it. Anyone who wants to become a media does everything for it himself, and I got into it, but even when I spoke, I immediately left, I didn’t like it, I didn’t like the hype. At some point, I got fed up with it, but I loved sports. A distant relative had a room, he said, “Let’s open a fitness room.” And somehow I started managing it, training people in my spare time. Trained both functionally and led group lessons, English boxing, Thai boxing. Although I’m not a super sportsman, I could pass on information to people.
Do you remember the day you cut your hair?
“An ordinary day, three years ago. I came home, I live in the Kuntsevo district and before going to bed I thought: “I’m tired of my hair.” And I have a hairdresser next door, I knock on her door, I say, “Come on, bald me.” She didn’t dare cut my hair for half an hour. And I’m taking it slowly.
– We heard about you during an interview with famous football hooligan and MMA fighter Maxim Bulakhtin. He said that you were his childhood friend and even fought with him for CSKA fans. Almost for “Yaroslavka”.
– It was like that. It’s just random. In the evening we sat with the guys, and the next day they went to the forest. They said, “Bruce, come with us.” And I don’t like spinning on my back. And that’s it – in the morning we went to the VDNKh region in the forest, we fought with Spartak, and there I severely let the guy down, knocked him out. Then they recognized me, they started taking pictures. There was no feeling of fear, and when I go out to fight, there is no burning, no excitement. Well why should I be scared, I don’t care about those shots. I have armor.
How did you get into MMA pop?
– I liked the competitions themselves, I liked the party, I started coming to the fights. I was invited to fight. I had my first fight on the show Meat Grinder, where I won by knockout, even though I had never played anywhere before, I hadn’t trained.
– Before the first time you fought somewhere, did you train?
– I studied at the Eagles gymnasium on Kutuzovsky. And there was the “Meat Grinder” project itself, and I decided to try it, they said, “Come on Bruce with us.” I agreed.
Did you see Khabib there?
– Crossed, of course, we saw each other constantly in the hall. My mother communicated well with Abdulmanap, he said, even before the pandemic: “Come on, this is all going to end now, and come visit us in Dagestan.” My mother was very sociable, she could have made herself heard by the president. And then, first Abdulmanap, his own kingdom of heaven, died of covid, then my mother.
– You also trained at the Volkov Gym. Did you train with him?
– Several times. We fought, but clearly he didn’t hit me hard. Once in the liver planted at the end of the third round, and I fell.
In general, it always turned out that I trained for a few weeks, fought and scored. Now I thought I would start training seriously. And I also thought about calling Mikhail Koklyaev: he’s a classic 90s strongman, I’m not a classic 90s strongman. And instead of inviting professional fighters, let’s kill the strongmen. Misha Koklyaev, let’s make an even cut and see which of us strongmen of the 90s is the strongest. I will be ready in a month.
– Besides boxing, what form of power could you cut yourself into?
– In something classic, like the deadlift, I definitely can’t. Pulling a truck is easy at all.
– When was the last time you practiced it?
– That was 13 years ago, I was pulling 10 tons for time and speed. And broke the record of an Englishman.
– What records did you have in the classics: bench press, squat, deadlift?
– The bench press weighed a maximum of 160 kg when I was still 23 years old. There was a 200 kg squat, and I didn’t try again. There was also a record – I bred a stuffed mammoth at the exhibition, it weighed some 300 kilograms. But there, I sat down, I put on the suspenders and I got up.
– When you tear up the phone book, is that a real trick?
– Everything is real, who doesn’t believe, please check.
Watch the Pravda Boxing League tournaments on the federal channel and on the matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru sites.
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.
