“Fighting Alexander is a big mistake.” Nicest UFC heavyweight to fight after losing to Volkov

Alexander Romanov is a heavyweight from the Moldovan city of Comrat, who … and then it’s quite difficult to choose the most textured detail, especially since Romanov spoke with almost before every fight in the UFC. Let’s try from interesting to sporty.

– You enter this fight after two defeats, provided that before that you had 16 wins in 16 fights. What is your mood now?

“It makes me even more excited. It’s like a kick in the ass to think about it and change something in your career, in your preparation. That’s basically what I did. The team and I have worked a lot on my mental and physical component, plus I flew to the US in advance, acclimatized well and trained well.

– You lost to Marcin Tybura by a decision of the judges, and in principle, in this fight, someone could see you as the winner. And with Volkov there was a technical knockout in the first round. Was it difficult to accept this defeat?

– I can say one thing, the fight with Alexander is, in principle, a big mistake. I didn’t come out in the best mental mood, from there the physical component also kicked in. Serious not so good changes happened in my life, events that affected me, there was a team change, there were other moments that influenced me. I’m not looking for excuses. I’m a professional fighter and I had to pull myself together and prepare. As a last resort, postpone this fight, but I accepted it, went out and lost. And, raising his head, he accepted this defeat, and Sasha was 100% better than me that day.

– Are mental problems personal problems or have you been influenced by something happening in the world now (Romanov grew up in the city of Comrat, which is the administrative center of Gagauzia, a region around which there are tensions in Moldova)?

– No, it’s a personal problem, but, thank God, everything is fine now. Now I am collected, charged and focused only on my work. And I think I worked very well all camp.

– Speaking after the fact, how did you expect to win against Volkov? Throw a deflection and finish?

– I assumed that because of my wrestling skills. Probably, most often I imagined that I would translate it and it would be possible to finish it on canvas, to hold a choke or a painful hold. I didn’t think about throwing the backbend: it’s too high, and it’s not very comfortable. Throwing a deflection from someone slightly shorter or your height is much more practical than someone who is at least 10 centimeters taller than you.

“Sometimes I ask people if they get knocked down in a punch fight. Can we leave a person in formation to get lost?

– Yes, even during this preparation there was an episode where my sparring partner swam a little, but the coach was nearby and we stopped in time. And that was precisely from a deflection throw.

– What weight could be the heaviest athlete you have thrown with a backbend?

– The heaviest opponent I managed to throw was a guy from the Czech Republic weighing 142 kg in amateur wrestling competitions.

– Before the fight with Tybura you lost a lot of weight and said that your form would surprise many, but before the fight with Volkov you gained it back, what is the reason?

– Again, it was about mental issues, because of which I clearly could not concentrate on training. You know, when you’re stressed, it’s already harder for you to focus on certain details. We can say that it was stress-related weight gain, when a person has a big one, we can no longer focus on one thing 100%. You come into the room, physically you are in the room, but with your brain you are flying somewhere. And there is not much advantage to these formations.

– Alexander Volkov speaks the same language with you. Did you talk to him after the fight?

We were talking in the arena, but we weren’t talking anymore. I hope that in the future we might even be able to train together.

– Alexander Volkov told me about your one-legged pass when you couldn’t translate it: “You just don’t know how many hours I spent in the position I found myself in in the first seconds of the fight with Romanov.” Did you feel at the time of the fight that he was very well prepared for you??

– And he told me the same thing, that they worked very hard and prepared precisely for this. And you felt he was specifically ready for that.

Are you ready now?

Now the focus is completely different. Now I feel like I’ve returned to exactly those moral and physical conditions in which I made my UFC debut. So I’m just gonna go out and do my thing.

– What song will you be releasing on?

– I had an idea, I rejected it at the UFC, they had to check that there was no plagiarism and promotion of certain prohibited things. You know that we are now forbidden to go out with flags. If he passes, if he is authorized, it will be a good surprise. And if not, then under Amatory “Stop time”, as before.

– What is your weight now?

– Now 119 kg.

– So you are again a powerful and heavy Alexander Romanov?

– In principle, yes, but I think at the weigh-in you will see that even my body structure has changed a bit. Visually it will be different.

What do you think, which of the current heavyweights is closest to beating Jon Jones?

– I think it’s Sergei Pavlovich. Sergei Spivak. I don’t know how much Tom Aspinall got back. It’s young blood, hungry guys, and I think it can do them good.

– Why didn’t you list Volkov, is he the only one much taller than Jones?

– It seems to me that Sasha also has a great chance, but judging by the type of fights they are having now, the UFC has no plans to bring him to a title fight yet.

– One of the main topics of controversy in recent months is the ranking of the best fighters, regardless of weight category. What do you think, if Islam Makhachev was 193 cm tall and weighed more than 100 kg, that is, he would have been a heavyweight, how would their fight with Jon Jones have gone?

– For me, stylistically, Jones is still a more developed fighter. Islam packs a big punch, but the level of Jon Jones’ punching technique is different again. It seems to me that it is Sergei Pavlovich who can create problems for Jones in the standing position.

Because he has a stroke?

– Many people think that Sergey is a fighter who just has a punch, this is nonsense, but in fact he is an intellectual fighter. He skillfully closes the distance. If he feels he has been touched, it is like a shark that has tasted blood.

– Now they periodically talk about the inclusion of MMA in the program of the Olympic Games. You are a wrestling representative, you would be interested in adding MMA to the Olympics program?

I don’t think people will ever come to that. We see that boxing has been almost excluded from the program of the Olympic Games. Before that, they were talking about excluding wrestling, that is, the Olympics are going in the wrong direction, where there are martial arts, where there are men’s disciplines. I heard that break dancing was added to the 2024 Olympics. So it’s not all about mixed martial arts.

Live broadcasts of the Mixed Martial Arts tournaments can be seen on and Match! Fighter”, as well as on the sites matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru.