Russian middleweight Andrei Puliaev spoke to about his victory in the Contender series Dana Blanc and signing a contract with the UFC.
Pulyaev, 26, represents the school of Alexander Shlemenko and signed a contract with the UFC after defeating Liam Anderson at the Dana White Contender Series show on August 27 in Las Vegas. Pulyaev had his first professional MMA fight in February 2022.
— Where did you prepare?
— I went through the first stage of preparation in Altai. Sharaf Davlatmurodov held traditional training camps there. And I prepared for the last month and a half in Omsk under the guidance of Andrei Koreshkov and Alexander Shlemenko. They handled the opponent well. Therefore, he did not surprise me with anything – except for the number of my blows he was able to take. He is so bad! I do not know what his head is made of! I hit him in the head, in the liver – he swam several times! I hit him even harder to try to finish him off, but he does not fall! That is what drove me crazy. I have a lot of pain in my left hand now. If I took his fork from him now, I think I would not be able to hold it normally. However, the hand is not swollen and looks normal.
— Former UFC champion Daniel Cormier said he expected you to be nervous before the fight. But he looked inside and saw you sleeping. It surprised him.
— And we arrived about four days before the battle. It took a very long time to get here from Omsk, on four planes. We decided not to rebuild, to live here according to Omsk time, so we slept during the day. Everything was fine. But on the day of the fight, it turned out that the departure to the arena was at 13:00 local time. And in Omsk it is two in the morning. Therefore, I could not sleep and was a little sleepy. It turned out that the battle took place at about eight in the morning in Omsk.
— Your second Andrei Koreshkov used obscene language in the third round because you did not get up during the final blow of the guard.
“Actually, I knew I was in a good position.” He tried to throw triangles, but he threw them slowly. And Andrei didn’t see it from his position. Our backs were turned, and that’s probably why he reacted so emotionally. And I thought: why should I get up? I don’t let him do anything. I also hit him in the head with my elbows. Well, besides, I’m tired,” Pulyaev told .
Live broadcasts of mixed martial arts tournaments can be seen on and Match! Fighter, as well as on the websites matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru.
TV Match
More sports news in our telegram channel .
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.
