On Monday, the fighters held a press conference, after which Ismailov quickly left (read more here). However, Shlemenko willingly spoke to media representatives, while noting that Ismailov had recently been deliberately keeping a low profile in the media. On Tuesday there was a series of open interviews, and Shlemenko spoke with reporters for over three hours. Ismailov was absent from the media day. From that alone it was possible to draw some conclusions. Shlemenko himself suggested that his opponent was doing it deliberately.
On Wednesday, open workouts took place with main card fighters taking part. After a brief session, Ismailov spoke to the media. Naturally, the main topics were the weight cut and diet. Ismailov’s open workout also had an entertaining element – there was a staged comic confrontation. Shlemenko kept things serious throughout.
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“The weight cut is going well, everyone is in good spirits,” the conversation with Ismailov began. “So far everything is going according to plan, but I don’t want to spend any extra energy. I want to give everything to the crowd, but that’s not an option right now – I have to save my strength. Well, I thought [about staging the mock conflict in the open workout] – why not? As usual, let’s have some fun. Now I can go and rest. Everyone had fun. For me, it’s also a win.”
– Judging by the videos on social media about your preparation, everything looks good.
“I was trying to show my best side in a minute-long clip.”
Tell us more about what happened during the open workout. Does this mean you can take out multiple people on your own?
[Laughs]. Yes, I have the strength, but I hold myself back.
– Alexander Shlemenko suggested on Tuesday… You didn’t come to the media day, you look tired, and it’s being done deliberately to put him off his guard.
– He said that? Damn, he saw right through me. [Laughs]. I haven’t competed at 84 kg in a long time. Really. You know, I’ve put on a lot of weight. I was at 106 kg… Sasha once said I was out of shape. So I did have weight issues to deal with, and they were real. I can’t call this one of my easiest camps, but everything is going according to plan. All the hard work comes tomorrow, but for now I’m smiling. I’ll be smiling tomorrow too, but with a thinner face. It’ll be a forced smile.
– If it’s not a secret, how much do you weigh now?
– 90 kilograms.
– When was the last time you ate?
– Before coming here [to the open workout]. I had fish, avocado, shrimp. Mmm… I could have that again right now. Anyway, don’t ask about food. It’s taboo right now. And now you go and ask: “What, no khinkali?”
In short, I want to eat. And you know what I decided. Every athlete after a weight cut, at the end of this grueling period, wants ice cream, and so on. You know, they bring you healthy and unhealthy food, and you want the unhealthy stuff. This time I decided that after the weigh-in I’ll win, I’ll take the belt, but I’ll maintain good nutrition – I won’t even give myself a three-day binge. Yes, we allow ourselves to eat anything during those three days. But this time I decided not to let myself go.
You can eat and enjoy food in a healthy way. When you’re really hungry, you realize you don’t need junk food to enjoy life. Vermicelli, fish, shrimp, pasta, buckwheat… Damn, buckwheat with milk. Mmm… I would dunk my face in the bowl right now. And once upon a time I could push it away saying “I don’t want any.” But now, buckwheat with milk… I like milk, but I haven’t had milk in so long… I could eat a whole loaf of bread washed down with milk. I’d love that – and then I’d be a happy man.
Before, I’d crack an egg and fry it sunny-side up… but the main thing is to get that runny yolk. Then you grab a piece of bread and dip the whole thing into the yolk. Now that’s an egg.
“And you asked me not to talk about food.”
[Laughs]. In short, you got me going.
– You had two boxing fights in 2022, when you weren’t particularly heavy. Now you’re cutting to 84 kg for the fight with Alexander Shlemenko. Do you understand why you’re doing this? After all, you could skip the weight cut, fight in boxing, or compete at 93 kg and not have to lose nearly as much.
Anyway, I’m a middleweight. That’s how I’ve fought overall [like against Alexander Emelianenko in 2020]. I’m a middleweight. And I was offered a fight in this division. And I don’t like the idea of “Let’s do 88 kg or 90 kg.” I’m going to face a natural middleweight. In the off-season he walks around at about 90-92 kg, but he doesn’t go over 100 kg. And I made the cut. Also, we signed the contract for this fight a long time ago.
Here’s how it goes – they tell you: “Tomorrow we go to training, we grind hard.” And you immediately think: “Yes, of course.” You vividly picture yourself training, sweat flying off you. You imagine all of that… And when you wake up, you realize it’s not so vivid, and you just want to sleep. For a year people kept asking me: “So, are you going to knock him out?”
So I pictured everything perfectly – I’m on the treadmill, I’ve dropped the weight. But today I’m confronted with the reality that cutting is still hard. To be honest… Getting down to 84 kg also takes hard work. After all, you put it off until the very end. In general, cutting weight has never been easy for me. Even 6 kg. I have a large team, a group of all kinds of specialists, and together we handle this. I’ve grown and my team has grown. We grew together. I hope that in the cage I’ll show how much we’ve grown.
You know how it is? There’s always that one person you’d hate most to lose to. Sasha isn’t that person. But I’ll do everything to win. Yes, sometimes my imagination plays tricks on me. I picture a fight, and for some reason he’s landing shots on me all over. Maybe my mind is just messing with me. I like to joke around. So I picture throwing a jab at Sasha and then a counter kick comes flying in. I find it hard to picture it any other way. Probably my imagination keeps me focused. In my imagination Sasha has no weaknesses. Maybe he does in real life, but not in my imagination. There, Shlemenko is very serious, very dangerous. More dangerous than he is here. He breathes fire. Flames shoot from his nostrils when he breathes. [Laughs]. So on December 3, I’ll be as focused as possible.
– Did you feel any tension during the staredown?
– I didn’t feel it. I don’t feel any tension after the 25th staredown. I’ve been through it so many times that sometimes my mind drifts – and there’s just a silhouette standing across from me. [Smiles].
– After such a long history between you, can you call Shlemenko your friend?
I can’t call him my friend right now. For me to call someone a friend, we’d need to have shared a cup of tea together, for example. Right now I can call him a good person, a colleague, someone I respect. I can call Vanya Shtyrkov a friend, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t want to challenge him to a boxing match. [Laughs]. For good money friends would knock each other out. I don’t know, I’d have to talk to Vanya. In short, it would be interesting, because two friends would step into the ring and box. He’s also 1-0 in professional boxing. I’m already 2-0, so: “Undefeated, Magomed…” [Smiling]
– With Alexander you have mutual respect, yet in a few days you’ll be fighting. It’s clear you have no ill feelings toward him. But when Alexander is asked why you’re not friends, he says your temperament doesn’t suit him – you’re always joking. Can you name one thing about Alexander that doesn’t sit right with you?
– I like everything about him. [Laughs]. All good. Even when he doesn’t want to but ends up smiling anyway, I like that too. Even when I picture beating him, I’ll be thinking: “Sasha, don’t blame me!” And apparently he’ll enjoy it too. [Smiles]. I have a good relationship with Sasha in every way. There’s nothing not to like about him. He’s trying to convince himself that he doesn’t like me. He needs that anger as fuel. It doesn’t suit him that someone doesn’t get under his skin, that he’s going to have to fight someone who fundamentally doesn’t rile him up at all. He doesn’t have that motivation of thinking: “Who does this guy think he is?!”
– Is it a psychological blow to have your Instagram account blocked [Instagram belongs to the American company Meta, which is recognized in Russia as an extremist and prohibited organization]?
No, it’s not a psychological blow. There is the concept of Qadar [the Islamic concept of divine predestination – from Wikipedia]. Something happened that we can’t do anything about. Qadar is predestination. That’s what we accept. This is how it was meant to be.
– Do you know why it happened?
– I don’t know. It means it’s better for me this way. This is what’s best for me right now.
– After which post was it blocked?
– I don’t know. I had posted about Kamran, where I congratulated him on his victory. It was after that [that the account was blocked].
[Questioner]: There were those stories about crypto…
– There was no specific discussion about anything. It’s just that I could talk about “how do you feel about making money?” What does that have to do with getting blocked?
“I heard you have a new page.”
[Laughs]. Yes, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to restore my old account. You have to find an advantage in every difficult situation.
Do you have lawyers handling it, or are you writing letters yourself?
– We’ll figure it out ourselves. We’ll get it unlocked. But I already have a small platform with 7,000,000 subscribers. Ismailov will be there either way. And you see – if it hadn’t been blocked, maybe I never would have thought of it. [Smiles].
– Is there a subscriber goal – for example, to overtake Hasbik?
“No, nothing like that.”
– About your mouthguard, which has “Run!” written on it. What does it mean?
– It means run. [Laughs].
– Who is it talking to?
– The one I’m about to beat? Run. There you go.
The last event before the tournament itself will be the official weigh-in, which takes place early Friday morning. That will be an event to watch closely.
