Last Stand Alexander Shlemenko held on October 17, beat Artur Huseynov by decision and injured his hand so badly that he is still being asked about his restoration (in this interview there will also be such a question). Over the past nine months, Alexander has lost several fights. He could fight in April with Faridun Odilov, then in July and August with Magomed Ismailov. Then on the same date in August with Jacare Souza, who beat Shlemenko and went on to major UFC fights. But in the end, Shlemenko’s opponent on August 26 will be Alexander Ilyich. Ilic is 33 (Shlemenko is 38), he is 13-5 in MMA and has great texture: tattoos, abs, a Joker mask to go to fights. Ilic is seven centimeters taller than Shlemenko and can win by knockout after kicks to the head.
– On August 1 at 13:00, the RCC league announced that you will fight against Alexander Ilic. And when did you know you would fight him?
– About a week ago.
– We spoke three weeks ago, you said there were three options. Was Ilic among them?
– There were, but the option on Jakar was more relevant, there was a desire to fight with him, negotiations took place, but something went wrong (Ronaldo Jacare Souza beat Shlemenko in 2006, after what he played in the UFC for eight years. – “”).
– Let’s explain: the choice of Ilic is not your choice, is he an athlete with whom the organization could agree?
– It would be nice if I could just choose who to fight, but the organizers choose. I was told there were at least three options, they said most likely it would be Jacaret. Then they said Jacare wouldn’t be able to do it and most likely Ilic would.
Did you watch his fights?
I’ve watched three fights so far. The rest did not survive.
– They will write to you now: “Shlemenko fights a fighter who has three defeats in his last four fights.”
But he is a dangerous fighter. He goes out to cut. Without compromise. He’s tall, he’s left-handed, he works well with his left foot on the floors. Through stretching, it touches the head, body and leg. Most of their fights end in a knockout (70%). Now, there is a tendency for spectacle in fighting, but let’s not forget that those who fight spectacularly are people who can soar. They are forward pushing people, and they don’t really care what they have with the stats, the main thing for them is to show good fights. If somebody says, “Well, he lost,” look how he lost.
As for statistics, the same Jan Blachowicz, after four defeats in five fights, became the UFC champion. The same Michael Bisping (4 defeats in seven fights), the same Anthony Smith chained three defeats, then fought for the title. It doesn’t affect anything at all. Influences the style the fighter promotes
If they had asked me, I probably wouldn’t have chosen such an opponent for myself, because the most embarrassing thing you can think of for me is embodied in Ilic. He’s tall, he’s left-handed, and he has long arms and legs. Hits well from a distance. He works well in the pit, and if he was right-handed, it would be easier for me to get close to him. So there I think that the organization complicated the conditions for me in combat. It was harder for me to fight.
– He has a height of 187 cm, the height of your main training partner Andrey Koreshkov is 182 cm. Will you try to find someone bigger for the fight?
– Yes, there is no point in finding a fighter of the same size. It is necessary to find such growth of a left-handed fighter. There is such a guy in Novosibirsk, Andrey Pulyaev, but he doesn’t work that way. He does not work with his foot. Here you have to work with your strong foot and waste hard. And then add with your right hand. Here it is not so difficult to choose by height as to find a stylistically similar fighter.
In general, when you fight with a left-handed person, it is difficult for you to find a left-handed training partner. Now I have serious work to do – to choose tactics for such a fighter. I don’t have any specific sparring partners in mind, but I think I’ll find some of my own, I trust my boys. Before that, everything was working fine, Andrey helped me in various fights, so we will work.
– Do you imagine that you will try to defeat Ilic by struggling?
– I don’t know, I watched his fights – it’s not so easy to transfer him, he stands up well, he defends well. I trust my striking technique, so if there is an opportunity I will try to use it, but in general it is difficult for me to readapt in combat. In training, I fight pretty well, but in combat, when I start fighting, I don’t do it very well.
How is the hand at the end?
– Now she is almost fine, but, for example, on Friday I fought, I did not hit very well, and she got sick again. Constant exposure further delays the time of complete healing.
– You will have a tournament in Omsk a month after this tournament, but I heard that the new arena in the city may not have time to finish. Your tournament may even be the first major event.
“I haven’t even thought about it yet. I hope that the builders will have the time and that everything will be fine for them.
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.
