“My father and I left a small village and came to the UFC.” The Russian fighter won the belt by knockout in the 25th minute of a wild fight

Albert Tumenov, with the predictable nickname “Einstein”, entered the UFC in 2014 at the age of 22. This rhymed well with the performances of Khabib Nurmagomedov, because Tumenov, representing another Caucasian republic, also trained with his father, debuted in the UFC only two years later, but was a pronounced striker and did not fight with so much success. Lost by split decision, won five and lost two more by submission. As a result, with statistics of 5-3, Tumenov left the UFC. The last person to beat a Russian was Englishman Leon Edwards – this happened on October 8, 2016.

Seven years later, in December 2023, Edwards, already in champion status, defended the belt at the UFC 296 tournament (and defended it), and Tumenov, in challenger status, won the title at ACA 168 (and won). Since the 2016 fight, both are undefeated. Leon Edwards won 10 victories in the UFC, Albert Tumenov won eight fights in the ACA (formerly ASV). Edwards hit Kamaru Usman twice and stepped over Colby Covington. Tumenov constantly bothers very tough fighters from Dagestan: Murad Abdullaev, Gadzhimurad Khiramagomedov and now Ustarmagomed Gadzhiduadov. And if now in the UFC everything happened like that in terms of the show between Edwards and Covington, then in Moscow Tumenov and Gadzhidaudov crashed into each other for 25 minutes, and 10 seconds before the end, Tumenov, like in the game Mortal Kombat, threw a combination and mercilessly finished off his opponent. Today, 31-year-old Albert is Russia’s best welterweight (up to 77 kg) with his latest loss to the current UFC champion in a fight where the Russian won two rounds and is later found caught in a chokehold.

—You had an incredible fight against Ustarmagomed. During the fight, were you at least once on the verge of an early defeat?

— In the second round, I don’t know for sure whether I missed with my finger or with my fist, but I didn’t see Ustar, everything was floating for me. I thought, “How is this possible?!” » I told the referee, but he didn’t react either, and that was the hardest moment. And I told myself that I just had to wait a little. I waited and even in that lap at the end I hit my knee, he fell… But with great respect, he suffered so much damage that I didn’t expect. I prepared very hard, I had more than enough motivation. But the fight turned out this way only because Ustarmagomed fought it this way. I started to respect him even more.

— You received a lot of blows to the liver, what was their purpose?

“I saw that in his last fight against Vitaly Slipenko, he kept his body open. I overcame everything I had done, but after the hard blow of the second round, I had to recover for a while.

— What do you think the score was on the judges’ cards?

— In my opinion, the score was 4: 1. I counted the points, listened to my point of view and was convinced that I was fighting in stand-up. I can say that I underestimated Ustar a little, I thought he wouldn’t offer me anything new in the stands. But he stuck to his tactics and took so many hits that it shocked me.

—Did you get anything valuable from the advice given in the corner during four breaks?

– I was listening to the corner, I was doing something, what they were saying. But overall, I read the fight myself and realized I was winning.

– Now your hand is not even in a cast, but bandaged. And with her?

— Ustar kicked a lot, I blocked with my hand, it was swollen.

—What was your weight in combat?

– 86 kg. Maximum 87 kg.

—There were several episodes where you looked like you could end up knocked out even sooner…

“I was very surprised, because I gave him 3-4 good knockdowns. Both in the liver and in the head, but… respect for his patience.

“It was one of the most beautiful five-round fights I have ever seen live. Did I understand correctly that everything is going to hurt a lot tomorrow because of this?

“My arms and legs already hurt a little. Of course everything is going to hurt. I didn’t expect such a tough fight. Glad you liked it.

— There is blood in your right eye, have you seen yourself in the mirror? How do you feel about this damage?

“I saw it, I saw it, that’s why I told you before the interview that I would get a little ugly today.” I don’t remember when I had such a fight and my face looked like that then. Well, that’s okay.

— Don’t you think that after such a fight, your rivals will put even more pressure on the fight? Because in stand-up, Ustarmagomed did everything he could, and it still didn’t work. And in the fight, he at least stopped you.

– In fact, today I showed that it is difficult to knock me down in a fight. We saw that Ustar took out Slipenko, but he couldn’t defeat me. I felt that I was stronger than him and in no way inferior in technique. So, let them try, let them fight, we’ll see.

— In the last 10 years, only UFC fighters have defeated you. Can we say that even lost battles haven’t been as difficult as this one?

– Well, even take my last fight with Edwards, I won it on points. There was just a mistake, there wasn’t enough experience. These are the mistakes of youth. I made a mistake in accepting this fight. I was in the top 15 at the time, and he was probably in the top 50 in the rankings. I thought it was a passing fight, I accepted it, I didn’t prepare much, I decided that I would quickly get out of it and close my defeat (from Gunnar Nelson – approx. “”) . In general, there were a lot of events then. My father and I left a small village and walked to the UFC. Usually when you’re not feeling well, you can go to the UFC doctors and say, “I’m not feeling well today, do something.” And doctors can get you out of the fight, but I couldn’t even imagine in my head that I would say that to a doctor. To think I’ve been poisoned, I don’t feel well. There were many moments where I could have walked away from the fight, but I didn’t.

— The average person may think that only UFC fighters can beat you, but are there any interesting opponents left for you in the CIS in the under 77 kg category?

“Let Leon Edwards come here himself.” I’m here and there are a lot of worthy fighters here. Who would have thought that Ustar would show me such resistance?! I didn’t expect it either. ASA is one of the best leagues in the world and I feel like I have a lot of opponents here.

– When and with whom are you going to fight now?

— The semi-finalists are known there. In terms of timing – in summer, most likely, because they will fight no earlier than spring, then they will rest, so not earlier than summer (Tumenov should fight with the winner of the pair Abubakar Vagaev – Edil Esengulov – note “”).

— Would you be interested in Andrey Koreshkov in the future?

– He’s very interesting, let him come. I think we would have a crazy fight with him.

—How are you going to get through tomorrow?

— I will wake up in the morning and go to the airport. That’s what’s bad. It would be nice if it was in the evening, but in the morning we have to go home.

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.

Source : MatchTV

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