Alexander Shlemenko – about a fighter’s career: “Winning a hundred victories would be good”

Russian middleweight Alexander Shlemenko in an interview with , he cited one of the goals of the fighter’s professional career.

Shlemenko has been performing professionally since 2004 and holds the record among Russians for the number of staged fights included in official statistics. The 39-year-old Russian became Bellator champion and winner of the M-1 League Grand Prix.

— You have different numbers in the two most authoritative MMA statistical resources: on the Sherdog website 62 victories, 15 defeats, 1 draw and 1 canceled fight (Shlemenko was accused of violating anti-doping rules after the fight with Melvin Manhoef), and on the Tapology 63 site wins, since the fight with Musa Pliev is taken into account. What statistics would you agree with?

— I think I have 65 victories and 15 defeats. This will now be the 81st professional fight debut.

— Do you want to make 100 professional fights?

— 100 victories would be good. I think I would then have firmly staked my claim in statistics. It is unlikely that anyone will be able to repeat this.

— Your closest competitor among Russian fighters, Alexei Oleinik, was sitting right next to you. When was the last time you spoke?

“We talked for a long time, but he and I were even on the same team and we trained together. And they even fought with him. True, it was literally for a week in St. Petersburg.

— Is it difficult to fight with Alexey?

“It depends what you compare him to, but he fights well.” There’s just one more thing where he’s a heavyweight, and it’s fundamentally difficult for me to get away with.

– Can you name the person with whom it was the most difficult for you in the field?

— I would say Abdurakhman Bilarov, he fights very well, controls very well, applies painful locks and is very flexible. He weighs about the same as me, around 90 kg.

— In 2010, you told me you could watch videos and learn something from them – but where did you get most of them?

– Yes, I even preferred watching the fights. I repeated the same UFC tournaments and tried what they did there. That’s all. It’s not difficult. And even then Alexey Zhernakov sent me many tutorials. Murilo Bustamante, Antonio Nogueira, was filming something. I remember seeing Ovin Saint-Preux doing the “Won Flue Chowk” move, and I paid attention to him. Besides, he repeated it. I have often observed various defensive techniques. How Musashi defended himself in the fight with Jacare, when he knocked him out with his foot, looked at the defense against triangles. There was also a Japanese fighter who choked his opponent by pushing him into the ropes. And I also started choking him at the net when I was watching him.

— When and how did you realize that the guillotine was working for you?

— When you started doing it and you start to feel it better when the technique takes place in a fight, at first it went well with Zelg Galesic, then it disappeared. When I did it to black belt David Branch, it was already the pinnacle of talent, because I think you can say that you are an ace.

— There are two popular knockouts from Lyoto Machida and Anderson Silva when they hit a front kick to the head. Why do I hit this punch so rarely in MMA?

– This blow is not difficult to land, but in a fight it is difficult to land it so that it passes. Each of them has received this blow almost once in their life, so there is always an element of chance. For example, my leg doesn’t bend like that, I’m afraid to break my fingers and it’s uncomfortable for me to hit like that,” Shlemenko told .

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.