Russian fighter Ivan Shtyrkov during a conversation with , he admitted that in the near future he might decide to retire.
On Monday, it became known that Shtyrkov will meet David Barkhudaryan on May 11 in Yekaterinburg at the RCC 19 tournament. For Shtyrkov, this fight will be the first under MMA rules since December 2022. Shtyrkov, 35, has 22 victories, two defeats and a draw in mixed martial arts. The statistics of Barkhudaryan, who has previously participated in AMC Fight Nights, are 11 wins and four losses.
— I somehow feel more comfortable now than when I was preparing for the same kickboxing. It is still not a discipline in its own right, nor fundamental. MMA is much closer to me. For two weeks, the light heavyweights and heavyweights have been training in our gym, there is a good program, everything is going as planned. I hope that Barkhudaryan is also preparing, that everything will be fine with him, without injuries and illnesses, and we will meet in the cage and show a good fight.
— Do you mind not participating in the main match of the tournament?
– Well, it’s not the first time. In principle, when Sasha Shlemenko fights in our tournaments, I always participate in the co-main fights. Yes, it doesn’t matter to me, there are no fundamental points: at least go out in the first match. So, by the way, it’s even more interesting when you’re fighting, you’re doing all the work and you’ve gone to support your guys. And there’s half a card of our guys, and I worry about them all the time, even going into my fight, not exhausted, of course, but calmer.
— Have you ever followed Barkhudaryan?
“He was competing in the middleweight division, so there was no point in following his fights. Then I heard he was fighting at heavyweight, I saw his Fight Nights title fight with Vagab Vagabov. Apparently, David is gaining weight by chasing himself in weight classes. It’s good.
— In the past year and a half, you haven’t really lost any weight either.
— With Vladimir Mineev we had a gap of 96 kg, here it is 95 kg. Yes, and I’m not gaining much weight. My weight has always been stable, so there should be no problems with weight loss. It is clear that any weight loss is heavy if we are talking about ten kilos or more.
I understand and feel that in fact there is not much time left for me to achieve exactly the peak that I currently have. The pinnacle of my martial arts history, the pinnacle of my name, my journey and, in general, my martial arts story. I don’t want to be idle, plus I almost always train at maximum speed, so it’s better to prepare for fights and fight than to just train. It’s nice and useful. Well, besides, time is running out – it will soon be 36 years. I still understand that in the foreseeable future certain decisions will have to be made regarding my retirement or reducing the intensity of the training process and, therefore, performance.
— How does the body now react to existing loads?
— What motivates and stimulates me is the fact that I gain a lot of experience in such an intense training process. And experience in MMA, kickboxing, striking techniques and wrestling. I can alleviate some stress with experience. But I’m adapting more and more, and loading is even easier for now. But the injuries that were there, that we receive little by little during preparation, are felt. And when you are over 30, you can no longer ignore them,” Shtyrkov 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.
