Rival Shlemenko comes to the press conference wearing cowboy boots and a hat. This is Alex Oliveira, he has 22 fights in the UFC, of which he has lost 10. Shlemenko hasn’t won any in his last three MMA fights. Oliveira talks to his wife during the press conference. Shlemenko – plays with his son. They will fight in Russia’s newest hockey arena, located in Omsk. NVO zone soldiers say hello to Shlemenko, Oliveira receives an Avangard cap.
– I remember how in one of the fights you were recovering after losing weight using condensed milk made in the Omsk region. So you didn’t seem to. And now how?
– Now again. To be honest, I didn’t eat sugar for a whole year, right from when I fought with Artur Huseynov (Shlemenko’s last victory in his career right now is ), and I noticed that I was missing something. I spoke with the doctors at Avangard, they advised me and I started eating condensed milk again. Every morning I started with condensed milk with pancakes, namely from Luzino (a village in the Omsk region – “”), because we have it very well.
How many hours before a fight do you last eat?
– Otherwise. Sometimes you’re nervous and don’t want to eat. Well, don’t eat, but it happens that before the fight you can eat a banana, it will give you glucose.
– You will fight tomorrow in the new hockey arena of Russia. Are you going to try to find out how many people came after the battle? Is it important for you as an organizer?
– Yes, but I think a full house will come. We won’t have a full arena, we made it for 8,000 spectators. But judging by the excitement, the way tickets are sold and how we have to distribute them to friends and partners, there won’t be enough tickets for everyone. My phone has already been disconnected.
– You have three fights without a win. What changed for the better after the tournaments with Kleber Souza and Magomed Ismailov?
– I began to feel better in my hand (Shlemenko injured his hand – “”). The hand recovered better. I didn’t believe it then, although people told me that they suffered from this injury for a whole year, but I kept thinking that I would recover faster. But I can say that only now it has improved. Again, after the fight, we’ll come back to this conversation, and I’ll say it.
I felt good with Maga, but I went out with a broken nose a month ago, the doctors believed, who said that after 10 days I could get kicked in my nose, but the first kick broke it again. This caused me problems.
– You and Magomed haven’t spoken since December 3rd?
“After the tournament, Camila… Maga talked a lot about Yasubi Enomoto, then he sent me a voice: “You understand me… Enomoto is my friend…”. Just so there is no misunderstanding.
– What are the chances that you will fight again?
Yes, big chances. Everything will depend on both of us: the interest in this fight has remained the same, I think it has only grown. I don’t argue, now I have more interest than Maga, because I lost that time, but in general, the people I see have a question: “When is the revenge?” “. People are waiting for him, no matter what. I have an idea for revenge here at G-Drive Arena. Imagine 12,000 spectators filling this stadium. It will only be a gun.
– Can any of the Avangard players come into battle with Oliveira?
– I now communicate only with Anton Belov, my wife is in contact with his wife. They seemed to want to come.
– Did you try to get a rematch with Alexander Ilic or Kleber Souza?
“Why would I want to fight Souza again?” Even then, I won the fight (the fight officially ended in a draw – “”). If it seemed to someone that I did not win, then I can tell you how it turned out. My defeat in this battle was only seen by my compatriot, a person I know. And I know why he saw that defeat. These are stealth games and intrigue. I would like to fight Ilic. And we even talk about it, but it’s too early to think about it.
– This spring, a popular video appeared with your rival Alex Oliveira, where he knocks out a person with a blow through the thigh. How do you like this knockout?
– I saw people falling from throws, but I wouldn’t say it’s such a merit of Oliveira, it’s just an unfortunate fall of his opponent. We saw how Matt Lindland got knocked out when he threw a backbend.
– I wrote to you on May 29, when I learned that Alexander Sarnavsky, your student, had left your team. You then refused to speak. Why did they give an interview about it now?
– Many things have changed. At first, Alexander Sarnavsky started talking about it, and I replied because I think it’s wrong if you only know one side. To avoid any “regrets” and so on. People who do something wrong like to look like they’ve been left behind. And I just decided to say it as it is, from myself.
– What I would like to clarify based on your interview results – doesn’t it sound like you could just meet somewhere and chat for 30 minutes? Because you mention there several times that in the end you have already communicated via your matchmaker.
– Listen … Just go to Sasha and ask him when he came to me with a conversation in his life. It’s always been me. I always approached him as a senior and tried to do something for him. But lately I’ve had enough of knocking on closed doors, I can honestly tell you that. I started noticing such things when Sasha and I are talking about something, agreeing on something, but actually doing something else. I don’t understand, and why should I talk then? We had conversations, but he made his choice.
– You say, “Now he has a three-game winning streak, but with us he had a 19-game winning streak.” But can you say that with you he lost?
– You didn’t lose without me? I’ve only compared streaks here when we say a winning streak is important. I’m not arguing, if he lost against an opponent with us, but won with other people, then yes. So what is the question here?
I’m surprised by this…here you take a person from 15 years old, work with them, create a base for them, make a foundation for them, then someone holds their paws for a month, and that’s it. I don’t want to kill anyone for Sasha Sarnavsky. Do you think he’s better? Let him move, my task is for him to win and win, and I laid the groundwork for that.
– To clarify: here it may seem that 19 wins are your merit, and the losses of Rich Clementi, Will Brooks, Marcin Held, Murad Machaev are Sarnavsky’s problem. Conventionally, there is an opinion on the Internet that coach Shlemenko does not admit mistakes.
– And you turn on the interview after those fights. I have never turned my back on any of my students in my life. And for all Sasha’s defeats, I took rap. Nobody asked me about the victories, they didn’t ask me how Sasha won. And any defeat – it’s all in the interview.
– Do you have students who are 18-21 years old, will you build relationships with them differently, given this experience?
“We are already building differently. They came to us at an early age. Sasha Shepel – I remember him as a chubby little guy. There is a difference in which family a person grows up, which gives him knowledge. We began to communicate closely with Sasha Sarnavsky when he was 15 years old. He is a person already formed, with his own ideas and principles. In the theory and methodology of physical culture, there is such a thing as negative transference. Most often it happens that it is easier to teach a person from scratch than to redo. Alexander Sarnavsky I failed to redo some of his problems. And these guys had no such problems, we have been together since the very beginning. They are other people. Here is my son running around – and above all he will be like me.
– You reacted to the conflict between Kamil and the blogger Lahma. I just want to clarify, did you find the time to watch any of his videos during the preparation (two videos go there for more than half an hour)?
No, I haven’t watched any. I watched Kamil call him, because it was short, and I read Alexander Lyutikov’s message. That was enough for me to listen and understand what kind of person he was. The only thing is that I saw in the comments that they wrote to me: “What kind of Rasul are you [Мирзаева] you say it?” Did I ever justify Rasul. He also killed the guy for nothing. One was drunk, the other was in a nightclub. If there were no nightclubs, people would live longer. Without this home.
What was the last MMA fighter interview you watched?
– Probably Andrei Koreshkov. Because I recommend it. And there he made a very big mistake.
– What?
– He gave it without a T-shirt. I said, “Andrey, you’re an adult, this is an interview, you need to be more formal.”
– Is there a quote from anyone from martial arts that you would remember?
Yes, Alexander Karelin.
“How can you endure the pain?” Silently.
Yes, and another new one. He said, “You won’t believe it, life is a terrible thing, people are dying from it.” I remember. I am Alexander Alexandrovitch, I get a lot of wisdom from him.
– His own quote: “MMA is not a sport, but a system of competition.”
– So what? I spoke to him about it personally. Say and say it changes. On this I disagree with him. We don’t have a person who is beautiful in everything. I don’t like a lot of people either. You need to highlight those moments you need, up to what you don’t. Maybe I don’t know how to cross stitch…although I can. Or I can’t play the guitar. Well, don’t take me as an example.
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.
Watch the Shlemenko-Oliveira fight on July 21 from 7:30 p.m. on .
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.
