“Alexander doesn’t talk about anything personally.” Shtyrkov about the conflict with Shlemenko and money for the fight with Mineev

Ivan Shtyrkov’s career can be very clearly divided into several periods. Until 2015, Shtyrkov practiced sambo, trained FSB officers and participated in amateur tournaments in various disciplines. In 2016-2018, they count on him in Yekaterinburg as an MMA fighter: they bring their old rivals Fedor Emelianenko, Ivan gets a good record and looks very impressive as a heavyweight. 2019-2021 is a very strange time. Shtyrkov leaves for the UFC, immediately fails a doping test, then finds himself at the center of a high-profile story around the construction of a temple in Yekaterinburg, moves to the ASA (2 wins, 1 loss) and does not returns only in 2022 to the Encore Ural. As Ivan himself says: “Now I turn to kickboxing. » In the spring, Shtyrkov fought with Pyotr Romankevich, and now he will fight against Vladimir Mineev. At the same time, Shtyrkov’s record in MMA is 22-2-1 and on December 15 he is ready to fight against former UFC fighter Maxim Grishin.

— A few years ago, Vladimir Mineev had a very harsh interview about you, in which he said that you “raised the barrier”, “failed a doping test” and “ended up as an athlete”. Why is it now okay for you to fight him?

“I don’t remember exactly what he said about the fence.” When the situation itself was there, many people said what. A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since that interview, but now I see and was pleasantly surprised that there was no dirt in our confrontation. Apparently this situation didn’t affect me much, since a lot of people talked about the fence. And as for me having no prospects, a lot of people have said that too. Everyone said: “Home champion”. Well, yes, I fought at home, someone has to fight at my house. If Vladimir insulted my family, then yes. And so – well, that’s his style.

— In December, Alexander Shlemenko will come to fight in Yekaterinburg. You will find yourself in the same room. Can you imagine some kind of conversation between you after a rather critical exchange this summer?

– No. As always, Alexandre doesn’t talk about anything personally. If he has questions, he doesn’t ask me, he doesn’t express dissatisfaction. Regarding our skirmish and my opinion on the training process at Storm School, I will remain skeptical. I have nothing to apologize for. I don’t know what I should talk to Alexandre about; We didn’t usually have conversations.

– Do you want to shake my hand?

— I always come to say hello. Alexandre is older than me, I treated him with respect, it’s true. I will always come and say hello to you first. I have no pride in this regard.

— At the same time, Andrei Koreshkov, who you said would develop his career “a million times better,” usually appears in interviews as a very nice person. Can there be communication with him?

— To be honest, I’ve already talked to Andrei a lot. And I expressed my opinion to him. Like an athlete to an athlete. And nothing like that happened. Then I realized that he wasn’t interested in my opinion, but when asked a specific question, I spoke on camera. I don’t see anything criminal in that. And I don’t see anything that could cause a quarrel. I talked about my vision for the Storm School and Andrey’s career. If he thinks that because of this there is no need to communicate with me, then that’s his business. Andryukha is a kind and open guy. It happens as it happened.

— Kamil Gadzhiev and Vladimir Mineev compare your fight with the fight between Bob Sapp and Ernesto Hoost (in 2000, wrestler Bob Sapp twice beat elite kickboxer Ernesto Hoost. — Note “”). Can you at least imagine this fight, have you seen it?

— I haven’t watched the whole thing, of course, but I’ve seen some cuts, I understand what they’re talking about. I did not enter into this comparison. Bob Sapp, of course, was a powerful man, and we all know what made him so powerful. And apparently, at that moment, his power was enough to break Ernesto’s technique and skill. Additionally, Bob Sapp was superior in size to Hoost. And here we still have to figure out which of us is greater.

– But do you think that as an athlete you are at a higher level than Bob Sapp?

— In terms of sport, martial arts, yes. I have been training my whole life, starting with sambo and ending with MMA. Now I’ve gotten into kickboxing somehow. But if we compare skills and technique, I think I’m better. At least technically. And once again, this fight is more the exception than the rule, so there’s no point in comparing.

— We watched your open workout – how did you get so fast?

– Is it visible? I just don’t see myself from the outside, it’s difficult to assess. I’ve probably lost a little weight and my motor skills are improving. The combinations I hit, I hit them a lot, I hope something works out in the fight.

But one more thing: during open training, not everyone tries to hit very hard or very fast. Basically it’s a workout to warm up, to watch. Vladimir could hit in such a way that you just didn’t see his real speed. But in general, speed matters in typing technology. In MMA you can take it by force, by fighting, but in kickboxing you have to strike as quickly and as hard as possible.

— Your leg was badly torn off during the fight with Pyotr Romankevich, and it was clear that it was fundamentally difficult for you to rely on it immediately after all that ended. How long did it take for it to heal?

“The blue took a while to disappear because everything was spread out and scattered. But after two weeks, I was training calmly. I could run and work. They did an ultrasound and checked everything. There was only soft tissue bruising, no ligaments, nothing in the joint was damaged. Everything is clear. You know how people’s faces are: everything looks swollen, but after two weeks it’s gone. You are apparently referring to the time it will take to heal after Vova?

– Well, yes, you thought about fighting with Maxim Grishin on December 15…

– Well, I just don’t like this situation: it seems like something is planned, but it’s not over yet. Organization [RCC] I moved the fight to December, I accepted. And then this battle broke out. I immediately said that now I only focus on the nearest fight. Otherwise, you can customize your plans: boxing, MMA, kickboxing. But it happens that I believed in myself, in my physical form, but I made plans in vain.

— Kamil Gadzhiev said yesterday that Vladimir Mineev had been preparing for combat for two weeks. Do you know that Vladimir participated in amateur kickboxing competitions on October 22?

– Yes, I know about it. You can’t do that in MMA: you fight as a professional, then suddenly you fight as an amateur. And guys do this to stay in professional shape. In this sense, kickboxing is not particularly different between professionals and amateurs. Apparently, for Vladimir, it’s about catching his breath, feeling the moment of competition. If he wins against me, he’ll say he didn’t train at all.

— Mineev has competed in three professional kickboxing fights, starting in fall 2022. Have your coaches pointed out any of his mistakes to you during these fights?

— To be honest, there weren’t any particular vulnerabilities, since they weren’t exactly kickboxers working with him. There were people from MMA. Therefore, I cannot say that they worked with him as a kickboxer. But Vladimir rightly said that it is difficult for people from classical sports to fight against the so-called “hiccups”. When a person works outside the box. They throw punches that are not always executed with the correct technique. The question arises: how can you cover the entire distance if you can’t adjust on the fly?

— You have become a very popular athlete. When was the last time you were offered a fight and weren’t happy with the financial terms?

– Actually, I don’t remember. Everyone understands: the market. Probably only a boxing match with Kostya Erokhin: it wasn’t the kind of money I usually fight for, but there was a tournament in memory of a deceased child. When they told me about it, I was afraid to negotiate. If there had only been one tournament, I might have negotiated the amount. And so I have my own fees, they are gradually increasing. We reached an excellent agreement with Kamil.

— Vladimir Mineev says his fee for the fight is 10 to 15 million. It would be important for you that yours is not lower, and do you think Mineev has such an amount?

– I believe him. Because I say Kamil pleased me in terms of fees.

-And is it important to you that yours is the same?

— I just named my amount, which suits me. I called – Kamil said, “No problem.” And that’s it – we work.

Live broadcasts of mixed martial arts tournaments can be seen on and Match! Fighter”, as well as on the sites matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru.