“If Fedor hits, Tyson will go down.” Valentin Moldavsky – about the formation of Emelianenko, the road to Belgorod and his harsh words

Valentin Moldavski has been training with Fedor Emelianenko since 2015 and thanks to these trainings in 2021 he reached the Bellator interim champion belt. Valentin failed to confirm the belt and now he’s in the black band of his career: a decision loss to Bader, the cancellation of the fight with Steve Mowry due to a poke in the eye and a knockout. in the fight with Linton Wassell.

Now Moldavsky is in the town of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and is fully prepared to pay off his debts. First in line is Steve Mowry (10-0 in MMA, 203cm), and their first fight of 2022 ended in the first minute when Mowry refused to continue due to an eye injury. More on that below, but for now let’s talk about the following:

Do you like South Dakota?

We are in a very small town, it’s just a settlement. It is difficult to assess the entire state.

– What does the city look like?

– Most of America. People often ask me, “How is it there?… Where have you been?…” They think that in every state there is a little Las Vegas, but most of America is small cities without anything fancy. As in any state, in principle.

– To understand, is this place noisier than Belgorod or Stary Oskol?

– Certainly not louder. It’s a very small town. We only went to the store, and from my last visit, I remember there’s a little park here, we went there. An artificial waterfall, a bison statue. There is a place to train, before that we went to the gym ourselves, however, with a very slippery floor.

– Do your relatives ask you to bring something?

– It happens, yes. Vitamins, some things, in the week before the fight you can try to go somewhere, because after that you usually immediately fly to Russia.

– Since the Belgorod region airport is closed, what was your route like?

– Train to Moscow, then Moscow – Istanbul, Istanbul – Chicago, Chicago – Sioux Falls. About 30 hours drive.

– How long after such a flight can I attend the first training session?

– On the day of arrival, you do not train, of course. And then you start. Acclimatization seems to be normal, sometimes I sleep during the day, sometimes I can’t sleep, I’ve tried drinking melatonin several times.

– You wrote that we will talk when your medical examination is finished, and that it is different according to the states.

– Yes, they looked here a little, twisted their hands, measured the pressure and that’s it. And in New York, when you fight, there is a very serious medical examination.

How do they do doping tests at Bellator?

It also depends on the state. Somewhere was the day before the tournament, somewhere the day of the tournament before the fight, and it was right after the fight.

How has your weight changed over the past five years?

– At 23, I fought in Japan for the first time, I weighed 97-98 kg. Now the maximum was 112 kg, when I fought in combat sambo, but it was completely unprepared, I just flew and played.

– In the March interview, you walked pretty hard on Steve Mowry. Would you like this interview to be translated into English?

Where did I lie there?

– Do you remember what you said?

— That he fused from combat. But he merged anyway. How else to say?

– There was “loh” and “one-eyed cattle”.

– A! Anyway. Apparently he was emotional. They probably didn’t translate it to him, otherwise the fight would have started behind the cage. I think I meant “behaved like a sucker” after all. Well, how can I say it? He could fight, but walked away from the fight. They hit me with a finger in the eye, and I know how a person behaves, if it’s a serious blow, it’s definitely not like that.

– Did you shake hands?

– Sorry, yes. What to do now? This time he seemed to be preparing, as I saw he put on muscle mass.

– He had a full fight with Ali Isaev, European freestyle wrestling champion, winner of the PFL Grand Prix. Did you see anything useful for yourself in this fight?

– It was clear that he was in good control on the pitch. In some places Ali made a mistake: he made a throw, but he got out, and sometimes it is difficult to throw high-amplitude throws, because they seem to cling to the ground with their limbs in any position. And in the end, Mowry left and was already in control of Ali himself. He has good ground control. But it was visible.

– Have you found training partners two meters tall?

– I wanted Denis Goltsov to come, but he failed at the last moment. I fought with Sergey Bilostenny, Oleg Popov, Nikita Krylov, Denis Tyulyulin and Ivan Grachev.

– Nikita Krylov (UFC fighter, 30-9 in MMA) said that before these training camps, you met at someone’s birthday party in Lugansk, and you told me about the same meeting, which then you immediately understood from Nikita that he “moving guy” I have only one question – did you find out with him which of you is stronger as a lawyer (by education)?

– They did not find out about him, but we studied at different universities, he seemed to be at “mach” (Lugansk Machine-Building Institute, now – VNU named after Dal. – “”), and I was at Lugansk State University of Internal Affairs.

Nikita and I got up once or twice, and his shoulder injury got worse, he left training camp. And so, we struggled with him. There were some really good rounds, it happens when you have a straight cut, you pinch and lay on top, and we had such a dynamic fight with a change in stance, he took it – I left, I went to the position – it worked.

– Explain to the layman why it was impossible to go see Alexander Volkov, who is almost the same height as Steve Mowry?

Well, first of all, he’s in America. Second, here we made a collection for me, and now there’s the same collection for him. It would have turned out that he had to go for several rounds of the fight, because he would have prepared for his fight. It would be nice to work with Sasha, but not when he is preparing for his fight, and at the same time I am preparing for mine.

– Grigory Ponomarev stopped training with you, who will fight in the ASA this week. Wish him good luck?

– Certainly. Have you decided that since he left not everyone is friends with him? No, he is preparing where he is best, but we are in constant contact, I have wished him well now and have wished him before. We communicate well, he’s a great guy, with his jokes.

Who will be in your corner?

— Fedor [Емельяненко] and Vadim Nemkov.

– What do you think when you already go to the cage?

“Nothing good, usually. Such a deplorable state. You’re not going to pick mushrooms, but it’s better when there’s stage fright. In the last fight I didn’t have it, I went, as if to some kind of sparring, it was already in my head that I would fight Bader again for the title.

– Now, does something remind you that the last fight was lost earlier than expected against Linton Vassell?

– You don’t forget. But in this situation, what does it matter? It was and it was, I myself knew what kind of sport I had chosen. In every fight, something can go wrong the way you want it to.

– Is there such a thing that photos remain after the tournament and it is unpleasant to see yourself in a knockout later?

No, it’s part of the job. What’s new? They knocked him out, yes, now the whole world can watch such pictures, but they could also put you in amateur competitions on the carcass or send you to a knockout, it’s just that no one sees it.

– Three hours before our interview, Fedor Emelianenko told Ariel Helwani that he would like to box with Mike Tyson. Did you first hear about it in an interview, or has he ever talked about it?

– It’s about Mike Tyson – no, but he said it would be good to play boxing.

– Were you surprised when he named Tyson’s last name?

– No. So what?

– Lately, have you ever seen Fedor train in boxers (in shoes), like they do in boxing?

– In boxers – no. Maybe in Moscow he trained like that, but I probably never saw him in boxing.

Will it surprise you if Fedor beats Mike Tyson?

Why should this surprise me? I will be delighted, I don’t think anyone will be the clear favourite. How old is Tyson?

— 57.

– I think the odds are equal.

— Ready to imitate Mike Tyson in sparring?

– It will probably be difficult for me, he has this very good shoulder spin. We probably don’t have anyone like him, maybe Anatoly Tokov would do better.

– They note that Fedor worked with iron and became even stronger. Is it noticeable in training?

– Well, yes, he gained a lot of weight, I think he weighs about 112 kg, mighty.

Is it difficult to train with him?

– Almost, yes. His physique has also improved, we fought a little, we have the impression that he has become stronger, like a wall. It’s always difficult to train with him, he can fly away unexpectedly with some kind of jab, so it’s uncomfortable.

– What would Fedor’s chances be against Mike Tyson?

– If he hits, Tyson will go down, and that’s it. Here are the odds. Fedor has a flare and Tyson has a flare, so whoever gets it will win.

– Looking at Fedor, do you imagine yourself at 46 in training with thirtysomethings?

I don’t know yet, but I hope it will work. He is in very good shape. Considering how he plowed all this time, we can conclude that he was recovering well.

– Who do you call the day of the fight, provided that your team is already with you in the USA?

I call my mother, my father and my brother.

– Bellator is not shown in Russia, who in your team is in charge of finding this link?

— Vania Grachev. He is responsible for it and sends it to everyone. The most hacker in the matter, he manages to find links to everything.

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.