Alexander Shlemenko organizes a tournament in Omsk, in the main battle of which he fights Andrei Koreshkov . Koreshkov is 25-4 in MMA, was a Bellator champion and has fought several headlining fights in America. Opponent – Leonardo da Silva of Brazil with a 9-2 record and a seven-game winning streak.
Shlemenko – about the fight of Fedor Emelianenko and Koreshkov
– In the main fight you have a former Bellator champion, world number 33. Was it difficult to agree with him (Koreshkov has been training with Shlemenko since his youth)?
Yes, it is unrealistic. In fact, Andrey is handsome, he understands that it is not he who needs all this, but Omsk, the boys who fight in this card, to appear on the show. To draw attention to this tournament.
– How did you coordinate this with Bellator?
– The manager, Alexei Zhernakov, agreed. Authorization received, everything is official.
– The last time the fight between Omsk and the Brazilian in your tournament ended very unpleasantly: Aleksey Shurkevich lost by KO. It seems to me that it is necessary to explain to the spectator how he perceives the Brazilians who come to such tournaments.
“As someone who was given a huge chance to fight a world star, a former Bellator champion. For him, it’s the chance of a lifetime. When they start talking, “Do you even know who that is? And who is it? I would say, “Who fought Mike Tyson in his first ten fights?” No one knows their names either, but they’re still looking at who he dumped.
– Kamil Gadzhiev says that a good MMA tournament costs 10 million rubles. How much does a tournament cost in Omsk?
“It depends on who you invite. This tournament cost us more.
– Are Andrey Koreshkov’s fees the biggest item of expenditure?
– One of the greatest, but Andrei could fight elsewhere and win more. He chose us because he feels responsible for those who evolve alongside us.
– Are they buying tickets?
“I bought half of the six thousand.
– Explain where the cage comes from during the tournament, since MMA tournaments are rarely held in Omsk.
This is our cell. Omsk has at least five “octagons”.
Did you dismantle the one that was in the hall?
No, we have another one. She is dismantled, we organize competitions with her. The Shlemenko Cup took place with her, the Zborovsky memorial.
– Who in Omsk can assemble a cage for MMA?
“There is a team that can do it. This is not the first time that we have contacted them.
– I’m not very interested in talking about it again, but even my parents read the news and ask: “What’s going on with Shlemenko and Emelianenko?” In other words, the town news people don’t understand your contradictions with Fedor. Do we explain?
– I want to say right away that personally I have nothing against Fedor or his team. He supported them all his life. There are many of my interviews where I sent my audience to support Fedor. But here is a purely operational question – I cooperate with the MMA Union, I want to understand what is there and what is not. If there are corrupt schemes, maybe we should know. I couldn’t reach Fedor to ask.
– You don’t feel that a conversation without a camera isn’t enough to settle everything, but until this conversation takes place, the journalists will continue to ask you?
So I have nothing personal to deal with. Why is this taken personally? Why can’t I, as a representative of the Siberian Federal District, simply ask the question: “With whom can I work and who is not suitable for me?” I’m not going to measure achievements with him, just want to understand who you don’t need to trust and who you can do business with. I organize tournaments myself, spend money. I spoke with Radmir [Габдуллиным], we met, he said everything is fine, we are all working together. And then Fedor announces that something is wrong. But if I can’t figure out what it is, I can ask what exactly happened. Also, now this is not my blog, we are recording an official interview, you asked me a question.
– You have a quote that UFC champion Glover Teixeira lost a title fight because he occasionally drinks a glass of wine or beer. People have two obvious complaints: one, Glover Teixeira basically managed to become UFC champion at the age of 40 and now has had a great fight. Secondly, his adversary does not hide that he can sometimes get drunk in general.
Yes, I said that for fun. It was a scripted interview, but it turned out like in this joke where a man smashed a beer kiosk and said they didn’t just write “no beer”, but “NO BEER” above. Here is exactly the same situation, I was joking, but I don’t know how they could express it in a letter.
– Sometimes it also seems to me that you often talk about this topic, but I want to explain one thing: from Moscow, this problem is a little different from the Omsk sleep zone. I come here and see a man lying on his back at the Sadko stop at two o’clock on Wednesday afternoon. It’s a little scary.
– Then they write to me: “he is mad about the drunkard”. I don’t care, I don’t drink, but I want people around me to live happily ever after. If you don’t want to, at least drink. But we live here, and when I visit Moscow, I also see that everything is very good there. Luxury. But come to my neighborhood (Moskovka. – “”), you will see what is happening there. I have five kids and I heard they catch 20 drunk drivers a day. What am I supposed to do?! They tell me, “You’ve never been drunk. Well guess what, it wasn’t.
Koreshkov – on weight and fight 5 km from the apartment
Andrey Koreshkov – in May he could fight at the Bellator tournament in London, but he will fight 5 kilometers from his apartment in Omsk.
Are you more worried?
– There is a moment of such domestic pressure and, probably, I will worry more before the fight than when I fight in Bellator. Many people I know call, ask for tickets, friends with whom I constantly communicate, former classmates, acquaintances of my parents can even call.
– Usually in such tournaments a local fighter is the clear favorite. Is it hard to tune in and believe that any situation can arise in battle?
– Yes, I never grant an opponent that I will move him or something like that. Besides, he has nothing to lose here, he can only win. It’s important for him to show himself well, so I’m going to go at it hard, with attention and concentration.
– What do you think, how does he imagine victory over you and what should be done for that?
– I think he will be ready and waiting for the roundhouse kicks. He’s a drummer himself, I noticed, but I’m not sure what plan he’ll have. Ready for absolutely anything.
– Do you expect him to try to break his leg after one of your rivals did it in Sochi?
– Yes, I did not fight for a long time with those who would not try to beat the leg. Everyone knocks. In the last battle, the man simply did not have time to strike there. But then – everyone tries to beat those blows below the knee to contusion the peroneal nerve.
– How are you going to spend tomorrow?
– In the morning I will train, I will sweat to eliminate excess water. I will sleep, eat and go straight from home to the arena.
– Do you remember the last time you played in Omsk?
I haven’t had any professional fights. As an amateur, it seems to me that the last time I fought was in a combat sambo tournament. It seems that there were cash prizes, it seems, fifteen thousand.
– It is rare that you can come to the weigh-in from home.
Unusual, but practical. Don’t worry about where to eat. Here I already know where I can find the food I need. In America, sometimes you just don’t know where they cook well. You can drive 40 minutes one way to the store.
Or weight loss – there they give you sauna tents, in which a maximum of 60 degrees and you have to sit for a total of three hours to lose weight. It’s really difficult. And there I made three five-minute visits to the sauna, which I go to regularly anyway. I already know what the hammam is capable of and five minutes is enough for me to chase half a kilogram.
– Recently, during the Fight Nights tournament, the fighter drove 26 kg. What was your reaction when you read this news?
– It’s hard, I think. But, on the other hand, it is the problem of a person who puts on weight. Bravo for what you have done. In my opinion, one of the few who was able to go from 96 kg to 70.
– You perform at 77 kg, at least once weighed 96?
– No never. I weighed a maximum of 90 kg, but it was me who somehow corroded when I went to training camp.
– Sometimes we see that the guys after the fight start to let go a lot in the food. You don’t do it because you don’t feel like it or because it’s not good for your career?
– I used to eat a lot of sweets, but now it turns out that after the last fight I completely gave up sugar, I didn’t even eat fruit. And did not regret. It turned out that during these two months I did not gain anything at all, not a millimeter of fat – it remained the same as the shape after the fight.
– And how much did you weigh now?
— This time I tried the pattern with water. In some ways it’s easier, in some ways it’s not very pleasant when you had to drink almost 9 liters of water a day. It’s not very good, of course. But the guys suggested a scheme with water and a sauna. And the weight seems better.
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.
