Russian fighter Sharaf Davlatmurodov in an interview with , he said he spoke with his future opponent Anatoly Tokov before signing a contract for the fight, and until recently I could not imagine such a development of events.
Davlatmurodov, 31, and Tokov, 34, had their first fight within the Bellator organization at a tournament in Moscow on October 23. Tokov then became a contender for the middleweight title, but lost by decision to Johnny Eblin. For now, the fighters are scheduled to have a rematch in the Russian ACA league, maintaining their existing deals with Bellator. Previously, both had emphasized that they maintained friendly relations.
— Your fight took place after the cancellation of the fight between Anatoly Tokov and Magomed Ismailov. Did you think that you would be offered to fight Anatoly?
– When the Ismailov-Tokov fight was canceled, we were talking about it with Aslanbek Badaev (vice-president of the ASA – Note from ). And this idea slipped between us as a joke. To be honest, I didn’t even think that this could happen after a while. But as we see, this has now become reality. And we met Anatoly Tokov on March 9 at the ASA 172 tournament. He said that they were looking for a replacement for Magomed.
— Did you communicate with Tokov after the first fight?
— Yes, we talked, corresponded, but after that fight (October 22, 2021), I don’t remember any training camp taking place together. Now, before making a decision, we contacted each other and discussed everything.
— Mamed Khalidov said that after winning by technical knockout against his comrade, their relationship could no longer be restored. Do you think you will be able to communicate normally with Anatoly after the second fight?
— We didn’t have that: there was no technical knockout, I think that in principle we ended up with a draw, in a friendly way, leaving the intrigue. Now I’ve been waiting for the fight since April 2023, I was in training all the time. The training camp took place in the Altai Mountains. Bellator constantly postponed my fight after merging with the PFL, and all the while I was preparing and training.
— Who should you train with to prepare Anatoly Tokov?
— My training partners are Denis Tyulyulin and, probably, Alexey Efremov, whose style more or less resembles Anatoly’s. I am training at Strela and Evolve Gym in Moscow. A lot of guys and coaches help. Artur Akhmedov – in freestyle wrestling, Taras Kiyashko will train me as head coach. So I will be in Moscow before the tournament and prepare,” Davlatmurodov 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.
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.
