Combat sambo world champion Stepan Kobenov in an interview with spoke about the fight with a UFC fighter Merab Dvalishvili in the final of the Cheongju tournament in 2019.
The 33-year-old Dvalishvili will fight for the UFC bantamweight title against Sean O’Malley at UFC 306 in Las Vegas. Dvalishvili is riding a 10-fight winning streak since losing to Ricky Simon in April 2018. In November 2019, the Georgian-American MMA fighter competed at the World Combat Sambo Championship in Cheongju and lost to Russia’s Kobenov in the final bout.
— Dvalishvili entered the World Championship final with a broken nose after the last fight. But it is clear that you almost did not hit him in the face. Was it a gesture of goodwill or is hitting simply not your strong point?
– Let’s just say it was noble. The man reached the final; it would be a shame if he gave up because of his nose. Well, it was a challenge for me, because before the World Championship, they said that a guy from the UFC had arrived, also my weight. He beat everyone in the tournament. I was interested in the fight.
I found out about it only before the World Cup. When everyone on the Internet started writing that a UFC fighter had come to the World Championship. And one day, my friend and I came to the site to estimate our weight, and he was all in UFC gear and said in English: “Hello, hello!” He asks us: “Russia?” “Russia,” I say.
We said we would see each other again.
— Did you think it would be particularly difficult with him?
– So on reflection, no. But I understood that it would be difficult. But he also knew its advantages. Sambo is above all fighting in a jacket.
At the same time, I assumed that in principle he was not very strong in wrestling. But when we started wrestling, I felt that he fought well. He exhausted his previous opponents and finally snatched the victory. I thought that he would act the same way with me, adding at the end. That is why I did not do my best in the first half of the match. I saved my strength so that it would be enough for the end
— You came back from the World Cup, how many days later did you return to work at the thermal power plant? How did your colleagues congratulate you?
— At that time, I worked as a leading specialist in the capital construction department. I carried out construction work, managed, concluded contracts, managed its facilities inside the thermal power plant from start to finish. I returned to work after about two weeks. In principle, they always treated me well, and after the World Cup they began to treat me even better. They praised him publicly and gave him a bonus. About fifty dollars (50,000 rubles), Kobenov 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.
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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.
