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Strikeforce issues release of curious Fedor interview

By Zach Arnold | June 21, 2010

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The first time I watched it, I felt like someone from an MMA message board was filming a video and was told, “Hey, mention Werdum randomly, but ask whatever you want.” I have no clue why this is the video released for promoting Saturday’s fight, but it is.

There’s not a lot of earth-shattering comments made in the interview (I transcribed what the translator said), but my big takeaway from this interview is not so much about Fedor as it is about the promotions who fall in love with him and push him hard. The promotions that push him never really push his individual fights so much as they glorify him. “Oh, Fedor, you’re a God, you’re the greatest fighter ever,” or “Fedor, what books do you like to read?” It’s always about him and not so much about the fights he’s involved in.

INTERVIEWER: “So I’m here with Fedor Emelianenko who’s set to face Fabricio Werdum this coming Saturday in San Jose. Fedor, you just arrived in L.A., how do you like fighting here in the States?”

TRANSLATOR: “I’m very happy to be over here because the audience here is very understanding and welcoming and there are very faithful fans of MMA here and I’m really happy to be back here.”

INTERVIEWER: “All right, it seems like you are always so relaxed before a fight. What do you do to prepare for a fight mentally?”

TRANSLATOR: “Usually I don’t think about the fight. I’m trying to just (rest) myself mentally and usually I pray before the fight and I think that mental preparation is very important. So, I pray before the fight and then it appears so that I come to the very beginning of the fight on the top of my physical shape and physical and mental shape.”

INTERVIEWER: “OK, so a few fans have asked about what kind of diet you follow during training camp.”

TRANSLATOR: “I do not follow any diet. If there is no Lent, I eat practically everything but if there is a Lent, I go on the Lent.”

INTERVIEWER: “(Fan questions) Growing up, what kind of student were you in school? Did you have a favorite subject?”

TRANSLATOR: “In my schooling there were times when I didn’t give a lot of attention to studying my subjects but later… and when I went for sports I tried hard and I did understand that my marks later will form my future because everything I was going to be in this life and my future profession was dependent on my success in schooling here and that’s why I tried hard and I graduated from the school having all but one satisfactory mark. When I entered the college and I graduated from the college, so I didn’t have any good marks, only excellent marks and then I graduated from the University. When I was 11, 12 I was a little bit lazy and that’s why you know my studies were not that great.”

INTERVIEWER: “Do you have a favorite book or movie?”

TRANSLATOR: “My favorite book is Good Summer. As for movies, there a lot of movies which I like but all of them are Russian movies, not American movies.”

INTERVIEWER: “So have you seen the cover of the new EA game?”

TRANSLATOR: “Yes I did.”

INTERVIEWER: “How do you feel about being on the cover with Randy Couture?”

TRANSLATOR: “So the cover came out very good.”

INTERVIEWER: “For the record, how’s your first name pronounced?”

TRANSLATOR: “Fyodor.”

INTERVIEWER: “So back to the June 26th fight. It’s not secret that Fabricio Werdum is going to look for the take down. How do you think you match up against him on the ground?”

TRANSLATOR: “I cannot say anything right now. We’ll see that during the fight.”

INTERVIEWER: “Do you find it easier to fight larger opponents? Why is that if that’s so?”

TRANSLATOR: “I wouldn’t say it is easier.”

INTERVIEWER: “So, Werdum actually has a win over your brother Alexander and you know, like when you faced Cro Cop, you avenged one of your brother’s losses. Does this motivate you even more?”

TRANSLATOR: “There was no revenge during my fight with Cro Cop. There was no revenge during my fight with Fabricio Werdum. So, Alexander, he has his own motivations, I have my own motivations.”

INTERVIEWER: “So you faced several jiu-jitsu fighters in the past like Nogueira, Ricardo Arona, Babalu. How do you think Werdum’s skills compare to those?”

TRANSLATOR: “Well, speaking about his ground game, I think that he’s approximately… his technique is approximately the same as Nogueira but higher than Babalu.”

INTERVIEWER: “Did you see Fabricio’s fight against Bigfoot Silva?”

TRANSLATOR: “Yes.”

INTERVIEWER: “What did you think of his performance?”

TRANSLATOR: “It was very good performance and he had a really strong opponent.”

INTERVIEWER: “So Fabricio said he’s looking to submit you in the first round. How do you respond to that?”

TRANSLATOR: “What I can say is only the plans for the fight are what will happen in the ring, nobody knows. That, only God knows.”

INTERVIEWER: “Do you consider yourself a fan of the sport of MMA? If so, do you have a favorite fighter?”

TRANSLATOR: “I really like MMA as sport itself and I like to be in this sport and like to develop myself but I don’t like to watch fights.”

INTERVIEWER: “What do you think are some of the top up-and-coming fighters, especially from M-1 that you think the public should be looking for?”

TRANSLATOR: “There are several young fighters, very good fighters but I do not want to call any names right now so I would like to let them to make their path themselves because sometimes you start calling names and you know people start losing so let them start and grow their own path.”

INTERVIEWER: “OK. So in your whole career, which fight was your favorite fight and which fight was your toughest fight?”

TRANSLATOR: “My favorite, one of my most favorite fights and toughest fights was my first fight with Nogueira. It was very difficult fight from physical viewpoint and mental viewpoint and I had to do a lot of preparation for that.”

INTERVIEWER: “OK. So, if you defeat Werdum, who do you want to fight next?”

TRANSLATOR: “So, first of all, I have to perform with Fabricio Werdum.”

INTERVIEWER: “You know you’re considered The Greatest Fighter of All Time. Are you content with what you’ve accomplished or do you feel like there’s even more you need to prove to yourself?”

*Fedor sighs*

TRANSLATOR: “I do not consider myself to be the strongest fighter or be a very special person. I just come out to the ring and I do my job. I do my job and do it as well as I can and try hard and I understand that there is my great country which I represent which stands behind me. There are a lot of people who pray for me and that’s why I want to be the representative of my country and I never think about ratings. I just want people to remember me as the honest person, the person who loves his country, his motherland and who glorifies the Orthodox Russia.”

Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

2 Responses to “Strikeforce issues release of curious Fedor interview”

  1. robthom says:

    “It’s always about him and not so much about the fights he’s involved in.”

    Thats an interesting observation.
    I’ve got to keep my eye out for that. There’s a few things to be read into that if thats whats going on.

    On the whole though I thought it was a pretty good interview.
    I dont know, I just enjoy “Fyodor”‘s mild humble little attitude. But I suppose thats so much easier to pull off all cool like that when you know your fricken best.
    🙂

  2. rainrider says:

    >INTERVIEWER: “For the record, how’s your first name pronounced?”
    TRANSLATOR: “Fyodor.”

    It seems that Dostoyevsky has never been popular in America like it was in Japan.

    Ed. — It should be noted in Japanese that Fedor’s name is spelled out phonetically in katakana. Think: he-yo-dor.

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