Alexander Volkov fought the last fight on June 4, and in a different situation, we would have waited with the question of the next performance. But, first of all, Volkov can and wants to fight often. Secondly, someone from Alexander Hall recently said, “I wouldn’t want Sasha to fight with our guys, but apparently it won’t be possible to avoid this.” And we decided to ask Ivan Bannikov, the fighter’s manager, if Volkov’s team has a contract in the mail for a fight with a specific opponent who can speak Russian. There are three other Russian-speaking heavyweights in the UFC top 15 (Sergey Pavlovich, Alexander Romanov and Shamil Abdurahimov). There are three others outside the UFC top 15: Alexey Oleinik, Andrey Orlovsky and Sergey Spivak.
– No, there are no fights with our athletes, and there are no negotiations about it. The only negotiations we are currently having are for Sasha to speak on October 22 in Abu Dhabi, says Bannikov. – We don’t know any specific opponents, I think it will depend on how the heavyweights will fight in the near future. We are ready to fight the winner of Cyril Gan against Tai Tuivasa. If Derrick Lewis wins, it’s interesting to fight him, but of course we will support Sergei Pavlovich. I sincerely wished Sergey good luck. Blades won’t want to fight us again after his last fight. There is another option for a duel with the loser in a pair of Stipe Miocic against Jon Jones. But for now, we only insist on the date and that it is a tournament in Abu Dhabi. If not UFC 280 then either way we are ready to fight in October-November ideally from mid-October and beyond. Again, that’s what we want. The UFC doesn’t always work that way.
It’s best to add the tournament schedule and some observations to Bannikov’s words. The situation with the leaders of the UFC heavyweight division is very strange. For example, the three main people would have set sail in a submarine without a radio room. Champion Francois Ngannou recovering from a serious knee injury. At the same time, Ngannou looks set to quit the UFC, upset over the low fee. former champ Stipe Miocicseems to have disabled internet on all devices. UFC superstar and light heavyweight champion John Jones gained enough mass to move up to heavyweight, trains beautifully, but says nothing about his possible fights.
The rest of the top 15 fighters are fighting so actively that there are currently no opponents for Volkov:
For Alexander’s manager to think about it:
– If Derrick Lewis doesn’t fall much in the fight then in the ratings then you can consider him, why not. Gan, if he wins, will probably want to fight Blades, and then we’ll have to see if Tuivasa drops in the ratings and what that fight will look like in principle. Will Tuivasa have time to prepare for Oct. 22 if he fights Sept. 3? Again, we have to see what their duel will look like. I think if the fight is fast, then absolutely. Again, it’s not just up to us. This is also the other side must agree. Everyone understands that Sasha is a very uncomfortable opponent. We would have fought with Aspinal happily, but now he gets another year without talking (Aspinal injured his knee in the opening seconds of the fight with Blades. – “”).
– How long will the Volkov visa for the USA be valid?
– Sasha is doing well with an American visa, he recently renewed it.
– It seems to me that in this case, at the Abu Dhabi tournament, priority will be given to fighters who do not have a visa for the United States, and they will fill out the card. Provided that the main fight is already excellent there, in addition there will be a fight between Peter Yan and Sean O’Malley…
— I don’t think matchmakers keep track of who has a US visa and who doesn’t. [и кого в таком случае надо поставить на турнир в Абу-Даби].
– We heard that Volkov, on the one hand, would not want to fight the Russians, and on the other hand, he approaches his career very professionally. Is it possible to say that in his case it is not the issue of the passport as such that works, but personal relationships? Almost all Russian-speaking heavyweights have trained with him and know him well.
I don’t think there is a fundamental obstacle. Sasha, in combat as a professional athlete, first represents herself personally. It’s more a question of interest for the UFC – tell me about a fight in the United States, where two representatives of Russia would fight? It’s still not that interesting. It’s more interesting for fans to put people from different countries. At the last press conference, Lewis generally said a terrible thing that if he had a different skin color, he himself would have been destroyed for racism, but it turns out he can afford to blame everything the world for racism.
It is clear that fighting with guys in the same room is unpleasant and undesirable for everyone. And it’s better to do it when there are no other options. Because there is nothing to do in it and the fighters themselves have no interest. Why would Sergei Pavlovich and Sasha fight in a tournament if they regularly do it in the gym?
– Let’s say they send you a contract for a fight with Spivak, he trained with Alexander, but now he doesn’t train with you.
– I think we can fight, but we want Sasha’s notoriety to grow, so that her brand develops. In fights with people from the CIS countries, I do not think this will happen. In principle, among the people above Alexander in the rating, I still do not see CIS fighters.
– Andrei Orlovsky called Volkov. Is this story really over?
She hasn’t even started. When Sasha was upstairs, Andrei wrote and called, but at the same time he was downstairs. He is a well-deserved, respected fighter, but a victory over him would have given Sasha nothing. No ratings, no new fans. With all due respect to Andrei, he is already a downed pilot.
– You said that once you rejected a fight with Ngannou after he lost two fights. Have you ever turned down other offers?
“No, that’s the only time we’ve rejected a fight. Ngannou lost two fights, the last one was of the worst quality, so we made that decision. But we didn’t reject more fights.
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.
