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« | Home | »

New Fedor interview (9/26)

By Zach Arnold | September 27, 2007

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There is a new video interview that Fedor did on 9/26. Here is the full translation (thanks to M-1) of the interview.

(Interview performed by Dmitry Kibkalov from M-1 and translated by someone else)

Q: How is your training going, and how did you spend the two month after your visited Saint Petersburg?

A: The training is as usual, there is a lot of boxing, a lot of wrestling. Last two month I spent in Staryi Oskol (Fyodor’s hometown), we held a training camp there. Most Red Devil team members were there as well.

Q: Were you able to get some rest?

A: Well, I did not have a vacation or anything like that. I did not travel anywhere. I thought there was a possibility that I will fight in September, but in the middle of the camp Vadim (Fyodor’s manager) told me that there wouldn’t be a fight. I decided to keep training at the same pace; I was helping other team members, in order to prepare them for the upcoming tournaments.

Q: What is the status of your contract? How are you negotiations with UFC going, what are their demands?

A: I think that Vadim is in a better position to answer these questions. As a far as I know, the contract is still being discussed. There are points that we don’t accept, and there are points that they don’t like. We are working out a compromise.

Q: Did you see CroCop’s and Nogueira’s debut in the UFC?

A: I saw CroCop’s fight, but not Nogueira’s fight. What can I say… As far as I know, Nogueira won, and Crocop lost… I think that CroCop’s got tired psychologically, and this is the source of his troubles.

Q: Do you want to fight in the UFC, and who would you like to fight there?

A: As far as I know, they give me Randy Couture, so there is talk about a match against this fighter. I respect Randy very much. Of course, to be honest, I would not want to fight him because I really admire this fighter, and we could have become friends. Oh well, a fight is a fight, and if they put us against each other, . As far as fighting in the UFC goes, I think I’ll have to fight him, I won’t have a lot of problems as far as cage is concerned.

Q: Please tell us about your meeting with President Putin.

A: It was a warm meeting. Vladimir Vladimirovich (Putin) listened to our plans to build Fyodor Emelianenko’s sports academy in Belgorod. We plan to have various combat sports there: judo, sambo, kickboxing, thai boxing, boxing, etc. He was very interested. As I it was a very warm, friendly meeting.

Q: Do you plan to visit such countries as Sweden, Netherlands, Germany?

A: Tomorrow I am leaving for Netherlands. I’ll meet with Vadim there and we will meet with various companies regarding various merchandising contracts. I also plan to find time to spend 2-3 weeks in Netherlands improving my kicks. After my birthday I plan to visit with Povetkin (Russian Olympic champ in boxing), and train with him. He offered, and I would like to train with him.

Q: Do you plan to visit Korea?

A: Yes, of course, I would like to visit Korea. I always get a very warm reception there from the Korean fans. I don’t know when exactly it will happen, because my schedule is pretty busy in the near future. I have to give several seminars, then in the beginning of November there’ll be the training camp with the Russian Sambo team to prepare for the Combat Sambo World Championships, then the World Championships, then I have another seminar coming up… Then I will have to get ready to my future (MMA) fights.

Q: Ring vs Cage: what do you think suits you better, and where do you train?

A: During the most recent camp I trained without neither ring nor cage. In general, I train in both. I think that one should simply feel what’s behind you, be it ropes or the cage, and act accordingly. It is possible to avoid contact with the cage altogether if you are moving correctly.

Q: Which organization do you think was more interesting for the spectators?

A: For the spectators I think PRIDE was more interesting as far as the production values and the roster. Now, UFC signed many fighters, and, of course, it has a much better roster. But, as far as production values are concerned, PRIDE was better on that regard.

Q: Will you participate in the Combat Sambo World Championships in November?

A: Yes, I will. At least I would really like to. I want to be there, I was selected for the Russian team, and I want to represent Russia. I earned my spot on the team, and I want to represent Russia in the World Championships.

Q: How do you manage to motivate yourself and give 100% everyday during your training?

A: I like what I do, so this is my motivation. Well, of course, I don’t give 100% every single day, there are ups and downs, but in general, I really like it.

Q: Thank you Fyodor. Would you like to say something to your fans?

A: I am really grateful for my fans. Thank you for your support. I am often asked whether “Do you feel our support, that we are holding our fingers crossed for you?”. My answer is “Yes, I do”. I am training hard, and I will try to bring you joy with my victories.

Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 38 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

38 Responses to “New Fedor interview (9/26)”

  1. He seems pretty reluctant to talk about the negotiations with the UFC. On the bright side, he only mentioned negotiations with the UFC.

  2. SCSI says:

    It’s great to see how respectful he is toward Couture.

  3. klown says:

    Seems like a good guy.

    The interview does lend credence to the view that he’s a bit naive about or disinterested in or excluded from contract negotiations and management issues. I hope his trust in his management team is well-placed.

  4. cyphron says:

    With each Pride fighter getting destroyed in the UFC, I can see Fedor’s leverage dropping…along with his stock with the fans. When you start questioning the Pride mystique, you have to question Fedor’s as well. Who are these fighters that he dominated?

  5. Don’t be an idiot. The Cro Cop that Fedor fought and the Cro Cop that Kongo fought are not the same person. And if he fought a doped-up Mirko, more power to him.

  6. garth says:

    Fedor is Fedor. Hopefully we see him in the UFC sooner rather than later, but if he never fights Randy Couture it does nothing to diminish his legend. As a fan, though, it would be disappointing if it didn’t happen.
    Frankly, I think that the dragging-out of negotiations is bad in general for the UFC. Also, if Randy has enough time to train for anyone I think he has a shot to beat them.

  7. cyphron says:

    So everyone assumes that Fedor’s opponents were doped up but Fedor was clean? If you assume something, you can’t be selective. Hey, guilty by association.

    Now, before the Fedor defense force come out and slay me, lets think logically here. There’s no proof one way or the other. But to the casual fans, Fedor’s stock has dropped. To Dana White, Fedor’s stock has dropped. When the seemingly invincible #1 ranked LHW fighter gas in one and a half round and then gets choked out by middle-of-the-road UFC fighter… there’s gotta doubts cast upon all Pride fighters–even the godly Fedor.

  8. Zack says:

    To the casual fans Fedor never meant anything. Who cares about them though…if at some point people want MMA to be looked at as a legitimate sport, you’re going to have to get the best to fight the best often.

  9. spacedog says:

    You know I was struck by two things in this interview. First, how great a guy fedor seems to be. Just a nice fellow plan and simple. And two, how much he has going on in his life. Sambo, Korea, Putin, sport clubs, he does not seem like he really needs the UFC to be a very happy, very rich, very busy man.
    As a fan i want him of course and as far as his legacy in North America he needs to fight but perhaps these things are not as important as I want them to be.
    Also glad to hear he trains in a cage.

  10. David says:

    “It’s great to see how respectful he is toward Couture.” – I think through that comment we see how respectful everybody is toward Couture. He is the boss. I would love to see that fight and it would be 1/4 the draw of JZ vs Kid which would be a HUGE draw in Japan so Couture Fedor would be big here too.

  11. […] is an excerpt of a recent interview with […]

  12. The Gaijin says:

    Fedor vs. Couture would be the wet dream of every hardcore at this point seeing all the other upsets that are going down.

  13. Billy Gamble says:

    I hope he doens’t fall into that cage doesnt matter trap. Randy is one of the best fighters in use of the cage.

  14. Sam Scaff says:

    Okay, so because other Pride fighters have lost, his stock is lowered???

    Maybe to someone who is not very intelligent.

    Hmm, Anderson Silva and Quntion Jackson are UFC champions. So what does that mean?

    And Chuck Liddell, Ricco Rodriguez, Murilo Bustamante (all UFC fighters at one time) lost in Pride. What does that say?

    Liddell, Couture, Rich Franklin, all got KTFO in the UFC. So what does that mean about the rest of the UFC fighters??

    NOTHING!!

    This is ludicrous.

  15. D. Capitated says:

    How much stock are you really going to put into that Ricco Rodriguez “loss”? I am assuming you didn’t see it?

  16. cyphron says:

    I see that the Fedor defense team are out in full force.

    God forbid that someone question Fedor’s invincibility. If someone has the opinion that Fedor may not be as good as Pride make him out to be, that person must not be very intelligent.

    Is it so inconceivable that the recent losses suffered by Fedor’s pride bretheren may impact his bargaining power? Is it inconceivable that Dana White may think less of Fedor’s dominance in Pride? Is it inconceivable that Dana White’s recent words about Pride VS UFC fighters betray part of that thought process? Of course not, Fedor is God and anyone who questions that is an imbecile. Why must people cling to Fedor’s nuts so hard that they must attack anyone who doesn’t genuflect in Fedor’s presence?

  17. The Gaijin says:

    Or maybe Fedor “dominated” them just as much or more as their fights in the UFC. Last I checked Nog was 1-0, so Cro Cop and Heath are the only two guys who are “lowering the stock” of PRIDE HW’s. And their losses don’t really prove or disprove anything about Fedor’s abilities in the least.

    Don’t forget to add Gan McGee(former HW contender)’s 0-2 record in PRIDE when you’re tabulating the whole messy equation! And then consider whether Coleman, Frye and Goodridge are UFC or PRIDE and multiply that by 3/2^2, subtracting for fights between each other promulgated by their absolute squares over cubed wins.

  18. cyphron says:

    We’re talking about the here and now. Back then, with all those UFC guys coming over and getting their behinds kicked, then yes, the UFC guy’s would’ve had less bargaining power in negotiationg Pride contracts.

    And here we are now in 2007. The position has been reversed. Pride guys have fallen on hard times. Just going over to MMAjunkies.com and reading the commenters there, one can see what the casual fans view of Fedor. Lets just say, he’s not seen in the same light as some of you here. That is not an argument about his MMA abilities, but more on the fan’s perception. Perception is reality, after all.

  19. D. Capitated says:

    Trying to point at Coleman as a failure because he got old is ridiculous. He won the 2000 Grand Prix. Please. Same thing with calling Frye or Goodridge “UFC”. They were in the UFC at the genesis of their MMA careers like virtually everyone else. This MMAath stuff is just stupid though. Its for people who are awfully shallow in their thought process when it comes to the sport. I mean, you’re gonna criticize the UFC because of Bustamante’s performance against Rampage? LOL at that, guys.

  20. Jeremy (not that Jeremy) says:

    It doesn’t make sense to just throw out someone because most of the other guys coming directly from Pride have been busts. We’ve seen some counter-examples, so it’s far from a sure thing that they will all fail.

    HOWEVER

    When someone says that if you move properly, you can avoid coming up against the cage, I think that that person does not have an adequate game plan to fight Randy Couture.

  21. Fan Futbol says:

    Fedor’s stock has dropped because the wins that went farthest to establish his dominance (Big Nog, Cro Cop) look a bit less impressive given the latest revelations about the Pride talent pool, i.e., that some of their fighters might not be all that was advertised. Does that mean Fedor is terrible, or that we don’t want to see him fight? Definitely not. But watching Gonzaga destroy Cro-Cop and then get soundly beaten by Couture; watching Herring and Nog fight a terrible, slow fight; watching the invincible Shogun get overwhelmed — it makes you think differently about exactly how good everyone in Pride was, including Fedor. I still rank him #1, but I’m less confident than I was before.

    FF

  22. pattisod says:

    HW belt held by UFC fighter
    LHW belt held by former pride
    MW belt held by former pride
    Welter belt holder UFC fighter
    LW screwed right now

    So its 50/50 with title holders.

  23. xx2000xx says:

    In my mind, as well as others, that Pride was the wild wild west. With guys doing Roids and directics etc……..

    Does anybody think Fedor juiced? I say no, because hell, even Barnett was ripped at one point. But let’s see how he would do with the current UFC crop IMO.

    Arlovski: seems to want to stand these days, they say he has a sambo background but he sure doesn’t use it which is a shame. Go back to the Sylvia fight…. nothing was going on, the crowd was booo’ing, just take it down for a while and feel him out, but no, I guess he has no confidence in the ground game and wants to stand up, if that’s the fact, Big Nog would just pick him apart on the feet even. Fedor wins. —- Arlovski hit while it was hot, he has one more fight left and I bet that the UFC will let him go. Because he’ll NEVER agree to the $$$ that he’ll get the next contract. He was a one trick pony, and fought when it booomed, but he’s just not that good.

    Sylvia — Hmmm so he wants to duck him? The reach would be a bitch, but once Fedor is on top he has one of the best punches (now elbows) from the guard. That’s an easy win for me.

    Gonzaga — I urge you to hit a daily motion (don’t deal with it, but i guess they are cool with copyright) or the popular torrent tracker that will cover you. Hit all the fights before the CroCop fight. If my memory serves, I think he had that bomb with Kevin Jordin and he did NOTHING until that superman punch. I’ve seen a lot of his non ufc-fights and wow, he has marketing on his side because he isn’t on top. He is a big strong dude, who has ground skills, but no, besides cro-cop he doesn’t have standup.

    Nog/Herring/Kongo — we’ve done that. Kongo could only catch him in the first 15 seconds. He has no ground game.

    There are 2 people who can beat him in my eyes.

    Vera: Only reason why is because he’s agile and explosive and young. He would explode in the first minute, mount him, and finish him.

    And here we go, the big fight with Randy. Randy is the smartest player in the game, he just doesn’t rest on his skills like 80% does, he is like a boxer, and has a gameplan coming in. He of course won’t let it be a striking match, he will close it up, and take him down.

    These days, even if you’re on the bottom and doing more damage it seems they give it to the guy on top, because he’s on top. I see it going 5 rounds and I just don’t see Randy on the bottom at all. Once randy is in guard the refs give him time, they won’t break it up at all because Randy will throw enough punches to keep it there, meaning the round will go to him.

    Fedor is a beast, and I want him to win over Randy to pass the torch, but I just don’t see it happening.

  24. Zack says:

    “Fedor’s stock has dropped because the wins that went farthest to establish his dominance (Big Nog, Cro Cop) look a bit less impressive given the latest revelations about the Pride talent pool,”

    You can’t look at just the names, you have to look at the time frame. Fedor is the only guy who beat Nog in a fight that wasn’t super close. Fedor wrote the BLUEPRINT on how to beat Cro Cop. Nowadays johnny come lately MMA fans can study the fight finder all they want and do MMAth, but it doesn’t mean anything.

    People who want to shit talk Fedor also seem to think Couture should have the #1 spot in the world. Who has he beaten @ HW in the last few years…Sylvia (only top 5 win in his career was against Ricco years ago) and Gonzaga (the man who’s name is built on beating Cro Cop.)

  25. Zack says:

    “There are 2 people who can beat him in my eyes.

    Vera: Only reason why is because he’s agile and explosive and young. He would explode in the first minute, mount him, and finish him.”

    LOL

    Uhhhh aren’t they about the same age?

  26. The Gaijin says:

    “Trying to point at Coleman as a failure because he got old is ridiculous. He won the 2000 Grand Prix. Please. Same thing with calling Frye or Goodridge “UFC”. They were in the UFC at the genesis of their MMA careers like virtually everyone else. This MMAath stuff is just stupid though. Its for people who are awfully shallow in their thought process when it comes to the sport.”

    Exactly my point, glad you missed it genius! You’re really bright like that tho eh 😉

  27. The Gaijin says:

    Still not really following how someone dominating fighters, who then lose has disproved the initial fighters abilities??

  28. xx2000xx says:

    Age is a # compared to MMA.

  29. Skorn says:

    I believe that the reason Crocop has failed in his UFC career so far is that we gets huge money win or lose.
    Similar thing with Chuck in the last fight.
    Giving a fighter a fixed purse win or lose is not a good idea in my opinion.
    I believe you will get a better performance from a top fighter if he is offered $250,000 + a $250,000 win bonus insteaad of a fixed $500,000.

    I am not saying Chuck and Crocop didn’t try but if there was a possibility of losing $250,000 on a fight they would give that little extra.

  30. “Trying to point at Coleman as a failure because he got old is ridiculous. He won the 2000 Grand Prix”

    Go back and look at who he beat and how in that GP again (as well as the UFC tournament he won) and maybe you’ll reevaluate Coleman a bit. He got it all served on a plate with either below-par opponents or already exhausted opponents who spent themselves in the previous fight while coleman had easy fights. This is why tournament fights SUCKS ass and don’t prove who is the actual better man. Another example: look at Rampage losses to Wandy as well, both came in 2nd fight of the night if I remember correctly. And he wasn’t doing that badly to start, but silva was a lot fresher

  31. Grape Knee High says:

    I can’t believe this PRIDE/steroids thing is still being discussed. Anyone bringing this up as a factor must believe this is a mitigating circumstance when discussing the relative performance of UFC and PRIDE fighters.

    That said, you’d have to be an mental midget to think that UFC fighters don’t also juice, especially since numerous UFC fighters (even those in title fights) have tested positive.

  32. cyphron says:

    Why am I being moderated? I am not even anti-Fedor, just merely having a contrarian view to spice up discussion. It’s your site and you can do whatever you want, but I’m shocked that I would be moderated for not toeing the line on Fedor.

  33. Zach Arnold says:

    Moderated? I haven’t been around since yesterday afternoon and only logged on now. I actually didn’t see any comments in the moderation queue, so I don’t know what is happening. I switched spam filters long ago so that posters like Gaijin could post freely without getting moderated by a filter, but I know the new filters moderate other posters (like Manos) now. I don’t know, bro.

  34. Tomer Chen says:

    Another example: look at Rampage losses to Wandy as well, both came in 2nd fight of the night if I remember correctly.

    Only the first fight, which was the 2003 MW GP finals. The second fight they had was a MW title fight on High Octane.

  35. THE HUNTER says:

    Sam Scaff said…

    “Okay, so because other Pride fighters have lost, his stock is lowered???

    Maybe to someone who is not very intelligent. Hmm, Anderson Silva and Quntion Jackson are UFC champions. So what does that mean? And Chuck Liddell, Ricco Rodriguez, Murilo Bustamante (all UFC fighters at one time) lost in Pride. What does that say?

    Liddell, Couture, Rich Franklin, all got KTFO in the UFC. So what does that mean about the rest of the UFC fighters??

    NOTHING!!

    This is ludicrous.””””

    Sometimes I really wonder about the intelligence of ex Pride fans. Sam is making comments about other people’s intelligence???

    1. He cherry picks ‘who’ is a Pride Fighter. Anderson Silva came from Cage Rage to the UFC, but because he fought, at one time, a few Pride fights, he is suddenly now ‘forever’ a Pride fighter? Nice cherry picking Sam.

    2. Sam declares Murilo Bustamante a ‘UFC fighter’, even though by his weak standards above (claiming Silva), Bustamante should be a Pride fighter as he has been there for years and years.

    3. Sam is obviously a new fan, as he apparently never saw the Ricco vs Big Nog match a few years back. Nog’s ‘win’ was anything but convincing. If anything, Nog’s match with Ricco confirms that the two group’s big guys, Pride and the UFC, were pretty even back in 2002 and 2003. Thanks for letting me point that out Sam.

    4. It’s nice to cherry pick some UFC guys losing to Pride guys from the years 2001 to 2005, but overall, there weren’t many matches between the two groups. And the matches that did happen, the results were close to even.

    5. How Sam can ignore what has recently happened is beyond me. The results of all these Pride fighters losing in the US, most to ex and current UFC guys is overwhelming. Rua, Mirko, Mishima, Gomi, Misaki, Werdum, Henderson, Herring, Fujita, Nakamura, etc….this is only a partial list. When you consider most of these guys were favorites…and losing to underdogs, it’s paints a pretty clear picture about who was somewhat overated.

    Last note…Yes, QJ is the champ, but what do you expect? There’s been a huge wave of Pride guys coming over. If you throw enough of them up there, surely someone is going to win something out of that bunch. These guys are good fighters. In fact, I am shocked how many have lost. Dumb luck would seem to show more should have won. What’s the saying? Throw enough shit up on the wall…something will stick?

  36. cyphron says:

    Oh okay. I guess it may have moderated my post due to the mmajunkie.com web link.

  37. D.Capitated says:

    The most amazing part of all the PRIDE/UFC talk: Quinton Jackson was considered borderline finished when he left PRIDE. He had lost to Wanderlei twice, the destruction by Shogun, and then got what is often argued was a gift against Ninja. He’s now at the top of the UFC, while Ninja has fallen to “opponent” status, Wanderlei has been KOed twice, and Shogun has lost to the often derided Forrest Griffin. How things change….

  38. […] Emelianenko, talks about the ongoing UFC contract negotiations with MixFight.ru (translation via FightOpinion.com). The Russian plans to fight in a Sambo World Championships on behalf of Russia in November — […]

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