January 15, 2021 in Abu Dhabi during the UAE Warriors tournament Rinat Fakhretdinov (19 wins, 1 loss) dropped UFC veteran Eric Spicely with a very hard blow. The fights on this show were watched from the front row by Khabib Nurmagomedov, Dana White and former UFC champion Matt Serra. Fakhretdinov already threw the same shot in the 55th second, jumped on the cage and said in English: “I’m hungry” (I’m hungry), which impressed the VIP stand. Matt Serra immediately noted, “We don’t know if he knows English, but he’s prepared to tell you he’s hungry.” Khabib smiled and White personally announced to the fighter that he was signed to the UFC.
— I shot a video for the matchmaker of this tournament, and I still have this sentence. I didn’t think I was going to knock out and scream something like that. But the words stuck in my head and flew away automatically. It seems to have turned out well”, explains Fakhretdinov at the origin of “I am hungry”. – I understand they let me lose. Ever since Eric Spicely (opponent. – “”) thought I would pass and get back into the UFC again. He has not yet made the weight of 4.5 kg. I could say, “I won’t fight.” But by then I myself had not competed for a year, I received a percentage of his fees as a fine and accepted the fight. The fact that Dana White would be there, I found out after Spicely didn’t gain weight. The matchmaker walked over and said, “There will be White, please give him a chance to prove himself.” I said, “We’ll show up.”
After this fight, Fakhretdinov went to Moscow and continued to work as a trainer in several halls. Despite the 19-1 stats in MMA, the fighter said his main income is group and personal training. The UFC fight had to wait a year and a half. At first they did not open a visa, then other reasons came into play. Fakhretdinov is now scheduled to fight Andreas Mikhailidis at a tournament in Vegas.
– I worked as a trainer and I still work. I left for America partly with my savings, and people helped me. This trip was paid for by Marat Kapkaev and the president of the children’s hockey club “Granit” Nikolai Ivanov. There’s no such thing as me getting a salary representing a team. I don’t ask for any salary, I just know that they can help me if needed. Not necessarily money, advice, in certain domestic affairs. But so, I will go back to Moscow and continue to train.
As long as my MMA career continues, I would give up my main job, but in general I like it. I have professional fighters that I manage, semi-professionals, amateur office workers. I dream of having my own club in my region in order to develop everything.
Now, in fight week, there is no more excitement. I lived with this idea for a year and a half, preparing myself. If I had just arrived from Russia it might make sense to worry, but here I was training with the best guys in the best gym in the world. I fought with the peaks of my weight and saw that I was no worse than many.
[Насчет будущих соперников] I really have nothing to say at the moment. I haven’t even debuted yet, it’s not fair to think of some kind of champion when you haven’t fought a single fight yet. The coach taught me – all the steps.
– Yaroslav Amosov came to Moscow for sparring (26-0 in MMA, Bellator champion. – ). He also told a story that in America people often teamed up with him, not knowing him by sight, and were surprised at the level. Was there something similar with you during those training camps in the United States?
– No, people were more surprised that I was so clumsy and very uncomfortable to work with. Many thought a tech would team up with them, but I have a slightly different style and it can be hard to adapt to that.
As for Yaroslav, don’t tell me that last name, ha-ha-ha. He fights terribly well. That doesn’t mean he has any particular physical strength, but he sticks to you and that’s it. Amosov is a topchik, I always tell everyone.
One of the main news stories related to Fakhretdinov’s debut is his return to the octagon Oleg Taktarov. The first UFC belt holder from Russia will become Rinat’s second and can officially enter the octagon either during the break or after the fight is over:
– Oleg Nikolayevich and Marat Shamilevich have been friends for a long time, and the idea arose to invite Oleg Nikolayevich to the corner. I said why not, come on. He is a good picture story, and he has a lot of knowledge, he will help you in any way. In any case, we have built a tactic for the fight, and my trainer does it, but if he advises something, I am ready to listen, why not. Anyway, in the foreground for me is the installation of my trainer.
We haven’t seen each other yet, but before that we called each other, talked on social networks, it seems that he will arrive tomorrow [на следующий день после разговора].
Fakhretdinov was born in Belozerye (20 km from Saransk), lived in Tatarstan, but dreams of returning to his parents and developing MMA in his region. For the first participation in the tournament, Rinat agreed with the organizers to wear a Tatar skullcap and recalls that he is the first Tatar to make his debut in the UFC. Before that, however, Justin Kish played in the UFC (at birth Svetlana Nasibulina, later adopted by an American family. – “”). But undoubtedly Fakhretdinov has much more desire and reason to tell something about the places where he grew up. For example, in America, he must explain that not all Russian bearded men necessarily come from the Caucasus:
– Usually they see a beard, they ask: “Dagestan, Chechnya?” I say no, Tatarstan. “O! And who are the Tatars? I start to tell a little, I say: “Tatars-Mongols, we have been on the gas for so many years.” People remember. But most people think that this is not Russia. And I say it is the central part of Russia. But in general, here and among the locals, many have beards. Almost all UFC employees have such a beard that you think, “My little one again.”
– There are two interesting details about you since the beginning of your career. The first is that at the age of 20 you did not start fighting sambo in Moscow, simply because 2,700 rubles a month for lessons cost you dearly. The second is that you performed in a promotion such as the Hip Show in 2011-2013. There they fought two against two, and on the site there were various huge figures and a rope:
“Wow, what do you remember. If it was a tournament now, I would still be fighting there. I really like this format. I even somehow approached Ali Bagautinov – he was one of the leaders there – and said, brotherly, put on a show again, I’ll fight there again. No pop-MMA would even stand next to it.
“Was it possible to stay there alone against two?
“I stayed very often like that. But in the same place they have given some advantage to him who remains alone. For example, you had to hold out for 40 seconds. And yet, it was like a game, that is, you didn’t have to fight them for 40 seconds. You run around the characters, you try to escape. Catch – fight.
There were people throwing pieces at each other, hurting their opponents. Then it was prohibited by the rules, it became possible only to repel it. I had my first knockdown on this show. Unfortunately, there is no more video. We fought, and at the last moment I just saw a hairy hand in front of me. He fell, got up, went third round, and on points we lost that fight. But I miss it, it’s a different adrenaline, a completely different buzz.
Source : MatchTV
I am Sandra Jackson, a journalist and content creator with extensive experience in the news industry. I have been working in the news media for over five years. During this time, I have worked as an author and editor at various outlets producing high-quality content that attracts readers from different demographics.
