Oleg Taktarov told if his father watched the fight against David Abbott (nicknamed Tank) at the UFC 6 tournament, in which the Russian fighter won the championship belt.
The fight between Taktarov and Abbott took place at a tournament in Casper on July 14, 1995. Taktarov won by choke in the 18th minute of the fight.
– You are one of the few people in Russian martial arts who are addressed by name and patronymic, – Oleg Nikolaevich. Can you tell us how Nikolai Taktarov raised you and what kind of person he was?
– Father … especially at the end he woke up with insight – he is quiet, silent, once he says something, and all mouths are open. I remember he saw my new girlfriend one day and said, “She’s mean. And that’s all. It took me eight years later to figure that out.
– Did your father see your fight with Abbott (the final of the knockout tournament in which Taktarov won the UFC belt)?
– Certainly. Dad cried from two things: from the movie “White Sun of the Desert”, when Vereshchagin on the boat soaked it all [врагов]then they blew it up. And how I strangled Tank, and how we lie and fight. He was in tears at both times.
What did he tell you about this fight?
“Honestly, we haven’t talked about it. At one point I asked for something for someone for him, but about ourselves we never [не общались]. I even remember when I read The Godfather, I had a black coat on, and my dad said an executive took out a loan, said the company went bankrupt, when he himself had- even a car and a three-room apartment. I then went to this man, asked him to pay off the debt, he answered something indistinctly. At that time, I had a rapid intervention team, they received money, but there was no work, I told them: “Blow up the car, burn the apartment…” . Six months pass, I’m in a nightclub, I met a girl, we talk, and then the eldest of this team arrives and says: “We did everything.” And I really forgot – what apartment, what car. This is the story of the 90s. Taktarov told .
On August 18, Taktarov, 55, will face Jeff Monson, 52, under boxing rules.
Live broadcasts of mixed martial arts and boxing tournaments can be viewed on and Match! Fighter”, as well as the sites сmatchtv.ru and sportbox.ru.
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.