“Good question: why do I need a fight with Alexander Shlemenko.” Anatoly Tokov – about six-pack abs and the fight with Ismailov

34 years old Anatoly Tokov has been competing in MMA since 2009, has represented Fedor Emelianenko’s team since around the same time and, without being noticed by flashy interviews, regularly beats very good opponents. In 2013, Tokov defeated Magomed Ismailov; in 2014 – Albert Duraeva; in 2018 – Alexandra Shlemenko, and in 2023 he could have become the Bellator middleweight champion (up to 84 kg) if he had beaten Johnny Eblin. But Tokov came to the fight disassembled and lost after five rounds of a tough fight. In early 2024, they wanted Anatoly to have a rematch with Magomed Ismailov, both started preparing, but Ismailov got injured 10 days before the tournament.

What we talk about in the interview:

— You took part in a training camp in the Elbrus region, where UFC fighter Arman Tsarukyan came. Has the fundamental question been answered: which of you has the best six-pack abs?

– No, we did not resolve this issue, but we met Arman even earlier, in Alushta during a training camp. And then even closer in Krasnodar, when we trained together. I can only say that Arman is still in very good shape.

— But they also say about you that your muscles develop well genetically?

“Me too, although sometimes I could let myself go.” When I don’t work out and only eat buns, my belly gets bigger. But boys always say that the belly sticks out, but the abs stay too. He walks ahead.

— Has it ever happened that in a gym, maybe somewhere on vacation, they do not recognize you as a fighter Anatoly Tokov, but take you for a very advanced athlete or think that you are doing bodybuilding?

– Well no, that probably didn’t happen. I have a friend who, in my opinion, is the champion of Russia in bodybuilding, he is from Stary Oskol, from our gym. So, when he sees me sometimes, he says to me: “Tolik, when you stop MMA, come join us in bodybuilding.

— Do you have high iron levels?

“I haven’t pushed myself to my fullest for many years now.” At some point I stopped swinging and decided it was enslaving me. Although in reality, physical exercise is necessary. I do the rope, the horizontal bar, the parallel bars, and there is a fitness trainer who prescribes all kinds of exercises for me: bench press, pull-ups, pull-ups with rubber, jumps… There are a lot of things .

— How many pull-ups do you do per workout?

— Honestly, I can’t say right now, maybe 3 to 5 sets of eight times. I can lift 5 to 10 kilograms with light weights.

— You trained for some time in Dagestan last year. What was your life like there, what did you do?

— I rented an apartment not far from the hall. In my free time I sometimes went for walks, the sea was not far there, I walked along the beach.

— Which Dagestan cuisine did you like?

– You know, I like everything. Kurze – bomb, miracle – bomb, especially the finest ones. Khinkal too: Kumyk and Avar – they all look great, but the weight sticks very quickly. I passed training camp and didn’t train two days before departure, it was the weekend. And my friend took me everywhere, fed me khinkal everywhere: wherever we stopped, I immediately got coffee… khinkal. And I got to the amateur competition and I barely fit my weight, even though there was a limit of 96 kg. In short, I gained four kilos in two days.

— You very often have dramatic fights involving blood. Who worries about you more: your wife or your mother? Who most often tells you: “No, that’s it, no more”?

“My mother and my wife are worried.” Mom, sitting next to the TV, is very worried, because my younger brother is also fighting. But usually they both always say they won’t watch, and then they watch.

— I saw your fight with Johnny Eblin, about whom you said that you entered it in a disassembled state due to sinusitis and acclimatization. Can we say that reaching the fifth round of such a fight is the most tiring moment you have ever experienced in your life?

– No. It seems to me that there was indoor training when it was much harder. Here, going out for 25 minutes is not like working out for two hours. In general I would say that in this fight I was very tired, very tired, but there was no such thing as I was tired and I felt like I couldn’t get up.

— Before the fifth round, what were you thinking?

– Probably, my head was in a mess, most likely, I was thinking about how to do it to win,

— So you understood that you were losing?

– Well yes.

— Muhammad Ismailov said that after your first fight, he came into the locker room and destroyed it out of frustration over his loss. Do you remember how you spent that day?

— When you win, the day always goes well. I won – great: I came to my room, washed, got ready, called my family, packed my suitcase and went home in the morning.

— Do you remember how much you earned for this fight?

— About 1000 dollars.

— You met Muhammad in 2017 and, while recording a funny video, you said that he had fooled himself into letting you take the tour. Can you explain what he did wrong?

“When he took my back, I took his hand.” Then he threw me, but I hooked his leg with my foot, and it turned out that his throw turned out to be exactly like that. I still had a grip, my leg was on top, staring at his leg, but my control was so weak and I had thoughts running through my head: “If I take my leg off now, he will run behind me and my grip will win.” . it does not work. Even if I hold hands, everything seems to be normal there. I think you have to take risks. I take my leg off, and Maga, instead of running the other way, ran where I needed him to. I took his leg more effectively and calmly began to perform the technique.

— After Ismailov’s injury, did they start asking you about your possible fight with Alexander Shlemenko? Alexander Shlemenko said of those he defeated: “Why do I need this fight? But you defeated Alexander himself, can you tell me why you have to fight him?

– Well, this is also a good question: why do I need a fight with Alexander. It’s probably just a great fight. Still, I want to do fights in my home country with famous guys. And it’s a good income.

— You say that negotiations are currently underway so that you can one day fight on the ACA. Who and what should decide now that your fight takes place?

— Negotiations are currently underway. ACA and our director Denis Alexandrovitch [Курилов] agree on an opponent and fees.

– Do you have a proposal now?

— There is a proposal, it is under discussion. I think that in the coming days everything will be decided: yes or no.

— In Russia, few active athletes have witnessed as many iconic fights as you. Are you not interested on principle or because you often have to get up early in the morning for the show?

— When the guys from the audience fight, I always watch, when the Russian fighters fight, I try to watch.

— Are you going to watch the fight between Alexander Emelianenko and Vyacheslav Datsik?

– I don’t know. It depends if there is free time. If I’m at home, there won’t be anything to do… Even if the little one at home won’t even let me lie down.

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.