“Fiodor is my brother and senior comrade.” Gabdullin commented on the relationship with Emelianenko

Fans of mixed martial arts and at the same time of the House of Cards series will be delighted to follow this story. It’s a question of power in Russian MMA.

So April 1st Fyodor Emelianenko announced his retirement from the leadership of the MMA Union of Russia. The nuance is that Fedor created this organization himself and in 2018 left one of his most devoted friends, a former sparring partner, as president. Radira Gabdullina.

On June 14, presidential elections are scheduled and there are two candidates: incumbent President Gabdullin and Deputy Chairman of Omsk Andrey Terentiev. He is supported by Emelianenko.

There are some additional details here. And now to the main thing. This is Gabdullin’s first communication with journalists since that same April 1, when Fedor wrote, “I no longer officially represent the MMA Union of Russia, as I do not support Radmir Gabdullin’s actions and policies. and Lenar Ganeev.”

– On the 14th, election of the head of the MMA Union of Russia. Are you abandoning your application?

Yes, I wrote and said that I was going to participate in the presidential elections.

– We spoke several times with Andrey Terentyev. Can you briefly describe your electoral program?

– The most important thing is to give an account, to remember what we have done in the past 3.5 years, what path we have traveled, somewhere where we have encountered difficulties. 2020 was a difficult year, there was confinement. We have lost worthy people to the consequences of the coronavirus infection.

There must be a program for the next presidential term, an understanding of who will support us on the way to our goals, what sponsors we will have, what kind of support from the Ministry of Sports will be, we can talk about it openly.

– From April 1, I tried to get a comment from you on Fedor’s words “I leave the leadership of the MMA Union of Russia because of my disagreement with the policies of Radmir Gabdullin and Lenar Ganeev .” What did he mean?

I don’t know what he meant by politics. You can probably ask him, you will have such an opportunity. Everyone tries to ask the question, “What about the relationship?” I declare to you: “Fiodor was my friend, Fedor remains my friend and will remain so.” I have never forgotten and never will forget everything he has done for me over the years. I’ve come a long and thorny path in this sport. From athlete to sports official. I thank him for his support and advice. What happened, happened, you have to look ahead.

– Did you personally communicate with Fedor?

– We met at the Russian Championship, but we did not have much time to fully communicate. I was in a hurry to get to the airport, he was late for a meeting. I’m sure we’ll meet and talk. He is my friend, brother and senior fellow.

– Andrey Terentyev said that the Control and Audit Commission was never created under your orders. What is this?

And he told you what that means.

“We thought that was a number and you should pass it on.

– She must be. But the commission of control and revision was never created in our country. As for me, that during my management of the union. It’s spelled out in the charter, but only the conference can create it—not the commission or the executive committee. Only when all the presidents of the regional federations meet. We wanted to create it at a conference on reports and elections on October 21st. It was in the plans. When I was elected president of the federation, this question did not arise at all. We talked about it quite recently. And these unfounded accusations – a person should at least once open the charter of our organization, and there he will find answers to his questions.

– Together with you, the great industrial sponsor Uralkali came to the MMA Union of Russia. Will they stay if you lose the election?

– Yeah, I don’t even think I’m going to lose the election. But in general, of course not.

– Is it the biggest sponsor in the history of the MMA Union of Russia?

– Yes.

– Quote from Fedor: “They put pressure on the judges, a scandal is happening.” Can you comment on it?

– Who? We certainly don’t put pressure on our judges. I don’t know, it’s hard for me to say. I can only say that athletes, when they lose, sometimes express emotions, they do not speak quite correctly about judges. But then they calm down, apologize. I can’t say what the pressure is on the judges. We pay judges’ salaries, attract them to work in competitions. We have a great relationship with promotions who also contact our judges.

– While you did not give an interview, more and more news appeared. Is it true that there was the same correspondence (link) in which Fedor told you to leave the presidency, and you refused?

– First, when you have such a huge country (to my joy), and you only have 4-5 years to lead, you will not have much time to help each of the federations and, in principle, to carry out the work … Secondly, I would like to ask you personally, as a professional, when people like Andrei Terentyev speak out and try to somehow discredit one of their opponents , you ask them at least for supporting facts. And you give them information in its purest form. This person at the time you were speaking, did not measure his abilities a bit. If you said, “Do you have evidence and are your claims substantiated?”

“I wanted to do it differently. I wanted to call Radmir Gabdullin and ask him what is happening in the MMA Union of Russia.

– BUT! So you call Radmir Gabdullin at another number, I’ll let you do that now.

PS

There are 6 days left before the election of the President of the MMA Union of Russia. This may be one of the most interesting showdowns organized by the union since 2012.