The situation where only one of the newlyweds flies to Paris after the wedding could probably only happen in MMA. This summer, UFC heavyweight Sergey Spivak (16-3 in MMA) and PFL Grand Prix runner-up Marina Mokhnatkina (11-3 in MMA) officially registered their relationship, and in early September, Spivak will face the superstar local Cyril Gan in France. .
This is a classic fight where the victory of one of the participants is much more expected: Gan is a former interim heavyweight champion of the UFC, the most popular French fighter and just a very heavyweight charismatic from Paris. Spivak does not smile often, but he manages to find support even in countries with difficult relations between them. The Moldovan says that a lot of blood has mixed in him, and posting a photo of training with clothes with the Russian flag, he writes that he remains an athlete outside of politics. Asks him not to criticize and does not delete the photos from his networks. Remaining not the most media fighter, Spivak has already extinguished several stars: in Melbourne he upset Tai Tuivasa, in Vegas – Derrick Lewis and Greg Hardy.
From the interview you will learn:
– Cyril Gan is considered a person who moves very well, which is very difficult to hit. Was it difficult for you to find sparring partners who could do something similar in training?
– We don’t particularly adapt to rivals. I have been doing sports for a long time. And I have already fought with many, so I think everyone can find the keys. I didn’t have a specific job under Cyril.
– Alexander Volkov fought with Gan, maybe he told you something, advised something?
– We talked with him, talked, but did not talk about this fight. Honestly, I haven’t even seen the fight between Gan and Alexander. I only watched how they fought Jon Jones, I don’t watch the fights, I’m not particularly interested in that.
– There is an opinion that Gan just gave the fight to Jones, and it’s almost a deal. What do you think?
Yes, you can think whatever you want. You have to focus on yourself and your work, and looking for attractive ideas does not concern me.
Do you think Cyril has a weak fight?
– Yes, I don’t know, I’m telling you that I didn’t watch his fights and I don’t know how he fights in training.
– You have one of the latest photos on social media – with Jon Jones. Does he look like a natural heavyweight now?
We see that it weighs more than 100 kg. I think he was always a heavyweight, he was just losing weight. Apparently he wanted something new for himself and now he’s playing heavyweight.
Did you imagine a fight with him?
– No, not before, I have too much practice. I even discovered it very late. It seems to me that it is only after the second fight with Cormier. I remember he had a fight with Gustafsson before, they started telling me that, the guys said he had a tough fight, but I didn’t even look.
– How much do you weigh now?
– About 116 kg.
– You fight in Paris, it is a very beautiful city, is there an interest in going somewhere?
– I have already been to Paris several times and I even trained at the Cyril Gan gymnasium four years ago. I’ve been to many places here so now I don’t go there much.
– You will fight in Paris, and they will certainly encourage you there. Ready to boo you in the stands?
“It doesn’t really matter. The cornered animal is always the most dangerous.
– Especially the polar bear (nickname Spivak. – “”)?
Yes, especially the polar bear.
– And where did you get such a nickname from, did you even read anything about polar bears?
This nickname was given to me by my father when I was a child. I was so clumsy and dad called me polar bear. But at the same time, growing up, he turns into a big polar bear. And it’s also interesting, if you look at habits, a polar bear doesn’t walk in a herd, and I don’t have one either. I am constantly alone, I constantly train in different rooms.
– You have already fought with a professional boxer. Have you repeated this experience?
– Yes, Joe Joyce is also preparing for the fight now, we came to their gym, but his team says he is preparing strictly for a southpaw. And so we go to different gyms, Misha Tsirkunov helps me, he is constantly with me, he will be my second, in sparring sometimes I can even work with not the most well-known guys who are actually of a very good level.
– This summer you became the husband of the Russian athlete Marina Mokhnatkina. Do you have photos from the wedding on social media – was it difficult to organize everything, considering that you were both preparing for fights?
– Actually, it’s usually on the go. We came to my friend Blagoi Ivanov to drink tea. I told him we wanted to get married, they asked me how we could do it. He says, “Yes, even tomorrow.” I say, “Come on, tomorrow.”
Marina says, “We don’t have any rings, nothing.” I say, “Yes, we will solve everything.” The next day, Marina went to make up. I went to practice. Then we also helped our friend Tim Johnson unload the furniture, he was moving. I had tight clothes. Marina also had a dress. And that’s it, my friend said to me: “Let’s go for the rings”. We have traveled all over Las Vegas. You could say the race was all about finding the rings. One place was closed, the other didn’t have our sizes. Somewhere they said – there are, but it takes an hour to prepare, and there was already an hour and a half before the wedding, and, as a rule, at the last moment Blagoy took them and gave them to me brought. He was our witness.
– You were Marina’s second in the PFL, will she be your second now?
– No, she won’t, because she couldn’t open a visa for France. If it worked, she’d probably be around.
– Tell me, how did your communication begin?
– She came to Las Vegas before her first fight in the PFL, when the Grand Prix had just started. And from day one, I really liked it. At first, I just wanted to help him. You could say he took custody of her because she had no one in Vegas. And I didn’t do anything to prevent her from hitting her head before the fight. And then I tried to care about it somehow, and that’s how it happened. But in general, I liked it from day one.
– Do you live together now?
– Yes of course.
– They say that men have more physical strength anyway, but at the same time Marina won six world championships in sambo. If she catches you on a lever arm or a heel twist, will she hit you or will you defend yourself with physics?
– It will be fine. If a person takes the elbow lever, it turns out that your arm is pulled with all the weight and you have to resist from a fully extended position of the arm with your biceps. It’s hard.
– Have you checked?
– We train together, Marina can give me some tricks, we do specific work for her.
Can she give you technical advice?
“Yes, of course it does.
Who cooks at your house?
– Marina. She cooks very tasty dishes.
Will she change her last name?
– She has already changed, it’s just that now it’s rather inconvenient to change all the documents. But she has my last name.
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.
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.
