It so happened that UFC in London, due to the Moscow broadcast time, could be watched on , but at the same time on the big screen in the official hall of UFC Gym. Among the Russian-speaking fighters in the tournament were Muhammad Mokaev (opponent – Charles Johnson) and Nikita Krylov – in the battle against Alexander Gustafsson.
Among those who might be of interest in Russia, a perky new fighter from Britain, Paddy Pimblett, fought. And in the main fight met Tom Aspinal and Curtis Blades. Aspinal was the favorite, but at the very start of the fight he hit a hard low kick, unsuccessfully got on his leg and found that his leg did not extend at the knee joint . Before the arrival of the doctors, Aspinal was lying down with his knee bent at 90 degrees. Under MMA rules, this is considered a loss anyway, and Blades won the fight in exactly 15 seconds.
Maxim Grishin stood out among the guests: not only Venum’s official UFC Olympian and a height of 190cm, but also the presence of 43 professional fights and 2-2 statistics in the best league in the world. At the beginning of the year, the fighter received minor injuries, and the break between fights was slightly delayed. Once Grishin fought with Alexander Volkov and even inflicted a second loss in his career, breaking a five-game winning streak. Now they have been training together for several years, and Grishin is surprised to see journalists in the United States asking about this 2010 fight. Maxim is waiting for the fight, scheduled for October 1 in Las Vegas, and is holding on. form :
– I have an American visa. In principle, there has never been a problem to obtain it. There were problems with registration. I had to travel the world to get an interview. For example, our guys flew to Oman, I had an interview in Astana. If we take a kind of exoticism directly, then for me it was Beirut: helicopters, tanks, sands. A very cool city. He went there in shorts, everyone thought he was Russian or American.
“Were you there before or after the explosion?”
– That was after. I saw signs of destruction. It’s actually a heavy sight, there the main road goes from the city center along the harbor where this explosion took place. The locals think it’s not entirely an accident, it may be a staged story. But in general, people are wonderful.
“I started training in March. – Maxim continues, – you can’t get out of shape. Although Roman Fomin of UFC PI (a training center for fighters in Vegas, opened by the UFC league – about “”) says that the big problem for many fighters is constant congestion. But I’m in good shape, there are no weight problems, now I weigh about 100 kg.
We speak with Maxim a few hours before the start of the Nikita Krylov fight. They compete in the same category (up to 93 kg) and train together in Moscow. As we chat with Grishin, training sessions and a photo shoot with the UFC belt take place in the gym. According to inside information, the belt isn’t real, and more tension arises when people want to pick up the bean bag more comfortably, closer to the big screen. On screen, Muhammad Mokaev crushes Charles Johnson in the fight.
Grishin, meanwhile, talks about how his collection of star fights nearly replenished with Derrek Lewis. Previously, Maxim fought with Fedor Emelianenko, Stipe Miocic, Francis Ngannou, and probably no one has such experience. But Lewis was only able to meet in the room for one day. Grishin did not find comfortable conditions in Houston. Derrick Lewis is scheduled to fight Sergei Pavlovich, another of Grishin’s teammates from Strela.
– Sergey is doing well this year, I think he will be fine. Knowing Seryoga’s abilities, especially… He will strike once, and it will be difficult for everyone. There aren’t even a million technicians to know.
“I heard he had one of Arrow’s hardest punches.
– He controls his punch, and I told him that if he is training, then you have to train near the fight. Otherwise, it can play a bad joke on him. I missed him with perforated gloves. The head moved normally. Although I missed Volkov – also a tight shot. Not the kind of pizza I would really like to compare.
I was in the Derrek Lewis gym in Houston, didn’t see any particular accents, but it turns out he’s good at the UFC. We talked about me coming to their place for the training, but just because of the living conditions, it was a bit difficult.
Before the fight, Nikita Krylov tries to raffle off UFC memorabilia. The toughest question is how long it took to get the fastest surrender in promotion history (13 seconds; author – Ronda Rousey in a fight with Cat Zingano). Krylov steps into the octagon to Rem Diggi’s song “Savage.”
– How difficult is it to train with fighters who are in their best shape, who still have 1-2 weeks before the fight, and you, for example, do not train actively?
– Actually, Nikita and I were fighting right now. Difficult, but we did 10 rounds of 2 minutes. Looks like I haven’t missed anything. In addition, in Kislovodsk we organized fights. When Sasha Volkov started training there, Nikita was also there, and we passed each other.
– How do you imagine the fight between Krylov and Gustafsson? – a question to Grishin before the fight.
– I would like Nikita to press him against the net through the clinch, pull him down, go around the goalkeeper without putting his head in the triangle. He started to finish and finished this fight on the ground, finishing with his hands.
I would like Nikita to win, because he’s our guy. But I saw Gustafsson in Abu Dhabi before the fight with Fabricio Werdum, and it won’t be easy for Nikita. Gustafsson is a really big guy, his arm is so big so Nikitos will need his IQ.
Everything was completely different. Gustafsson immediately missed Krylov’s low kicks, but Nikita moved on to punches and rocked the opponent. Then he missed, attacked with his foot; Gustafsson grabbed his leg, but immediately missed a very hard blow to the head and was knocked unconscious. It took Nikita 9 years to earn his most publicized victory in the UFC, but he got it in just 67 seconds.
Krylov’s weight champion is Jiri Prochazka.
“If Prokhazka and Magomed Ankalaev had a fight, I would call Ankalaev the favorite,” Grishin remarked, “because Magomed is left-handed, a counter-puncher, and Jiri comes forward and comes up against punches. See how many Teixeira l struck by calculating many of his technical moves.
Predictably, Paddy Pimblett strangled Jordan Levitt, Jack Hermansson beat Chris Curtis by decision. People in beanbags were waiting for the main fight, but at the very beginning we told how it ended. In March of this year, Aspinal sensationally passed Alexander Volkov in London, beating armbar in the first round. Judging by the knee injury, we can’t expect revenge between them. Grishin, in a chat with after the fight, didn’t rule out that next time Volkov “unfortunately might fight one of our guys.” For such a battle, an even larger screen will be needed.
Source : MatchTV
I am Sandra Jackson, a journalist and content creator with extensive experience in the news industry. I have been working in the news media for over five years. During this time, I have worked as an author and editor at various outlets producing high-quality content that attracts readers from different demographics.
