Head of AMC Fight Nights Kamil Gadjiev considers a possible fight between league champions Alexander Sarnavsky and Dmitry Bikrev a good idea.
On Friday in Moscow, Sarnavsky, 35, defeated Magomed Sulumov by third-round submission at AMC Fight Nights 123 to win the lightweight title. For Sarnavsky, it was the first title fight won in 49 professional fights. After the fight, he told reporters that he was ready to fight for a second championship belt with Dmitry Bikrev in the welterweight division.
In April 2016, Sarnavsky defeated Bikrev early at Fight Nights. Since then, AMC Fight Nights welterweight champion Bikrev has not lost.
— How would you rate the main battle on a scale of 1 to 10?
— I would give it a seven. And that’s high praise. There are many components here: desire, technical equipment. You can’t give a 10 to a fight that didn’t go all five rounds. You can’t give full marks to a fight when it was already stale by the third round. And so on. But they definitely gave me energy.
— Weren’t you surprised that Sulumov didn’t see any punches in the first round?
– He missed a lot. Apparently he was “burned”. After the first round, I realized that everything… I’ll explain. In the first segment, he gave it his all and tried to eliminate Sanya. I couldn’t, I gave a lot of myself. And I remember the first fight between Sulumov and Aliyev, when in the third round Maga began to lose badly. Well, I understand that the third and subsequent rounds are not his time. I called Ahmed and asked, “Is Maga hitting in the third round?” The answer was no and I understood everything. There was nothing to gain. The only chance is that Sarnavsky is very tired and Sulumov makes a takedown… And, for example, if he started each round with takedowns and “covered” (covered on the ground – approximately) Sarnavsky. But Sanya also learned to work her back well. Second, judges no longer allow people to work like this. But the fight took place, I’m happy.
Sarnavsky is definitely the star of Fight Nights. He’s basically a star. I think he’s in his promotion now. He had a good run in the ACA, but Fight Nights suits him. He has now fought his third championship fight. We understand that things haven’t been easy for him lately. And now he was in a difficult emotional state. No offense to Maga… But it was as if Sarnavsky needed this victory more. At the end of his career, he did something: he took the belt from a strong kid. Otherwise, we would always say: “When it comes to big fights, Sanya loses.” »And Sulumov is 27 years old, he still has to fight and fight. He will always have a say in MMA. As if Sarnavsky was now more interested in victory. And for the league, such a bracket involves some amazing storylines. Maybe the fight between Sarnavsky and Akhmed Aliyev will make everyone happy. Or maybe a fight with Dmitry Bikrev for two belts. I think Sarnavsky – Bikrev… That would go too far, ”reports the correspondent of , reporting Gadjiev’s words.
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
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.
