On November 18, a brilliant REN TV Fight Club tournament took place, in which fights were held according to the rules of kickboxing. In the main event of the evening, wrestlers from RCC and the Archangel Michael club Ivan Shtyrkov and Vladimir Mineev competed. The fight lasted the entire distance and ended only with a judge’s decision. There Mineev turned out to be stronger, for whom kickboxing is “his field.” But Shtyrkov showed an excellent level and resisted well against an experienced opponent. We spoke to Ivan and discussed the fight, upcoming plans and thoughts about the future.
Let’s remember the details of the fight:
Mineev gave Shtyrkov a kickboxing lesson. Ural Hulk did not show anything
– Yesterday the fight between Maxim Grishin and Asylzhan Bakytzhanuly was announced. When did you decide not to perform in December? – After the fight with Vladimir, we discussed with Nikolai Klimenko that we should reduce the pace. Yes, to some extent I don’t feel very comfortable in front of Maxim, but everyone was warned, so it’s not a surprise. Here I must thank the organization, I must thank Asylzhan for covering me to a certain extent.
There are bruises, there are certain wounds that have accumulated over all this time. It is necessary that everything be settled before the New Year, so that new confrontations arise. For me, any fight is relevant with any opponent. I have never given up confrontation, if it benefits me and the organization.
– RCC boss Nikolai Klimenko said he is considering May for his rematch with Vladimir. Is this option right for you? – I wouldn’t say this is simple revenge. This is a different fight, a different sport. This is a repeated confrontation with the same opponent. Yes, Nikolai said about May. Apparently, there were some clues even before our first fight. Yes, I’m ready: May is a great month.
– Nikolai also said that the league is planning a big tournament in February. Do you consider performing there as part of your preparation for Mineev? – I want it, and he injects me. On the one hand, this is an opportunity to prepare myself. I haven’t fought in MMA for a long time. But this is also an opportunity to get injured, lose and be eliminated from the May tournament. We have to think about it, but I would like to take a break from martial arts, even training, in November-December. Heal something, train something else, unload your head. And from January, Vladimir Mineev will begin proper preparation. I think the tournament will be dedicated to Victory Day, so four months of preparation is great.
We could take off in February, but the plan for next year was May, August and December. Of course, I’ve never missed a New Year’s tournament and it’s a bit disappointing to miss RCC 17. We’ll see.
Ivan Shtyrkov
Photo: Dmitry Golubovich, “Championship”
– Your coach, Dmitry Khabibullin, said that in the fight with Vladimir you were able to show almost all the skills that you had planned. Do you agree with his opinion? – After the fight with Romankevich they began to say that he had no defense against low kicks. But let’s say this: many kickboxers don’t defend themselves, they miss, they have no defense and they get their legs cut off. Kickboxers themselves do not have 100% protection against low kicks in kickboxing. This means that one way or another you will miss blows to the legs, like in boxing to the head, for example. It’s part of this sport.
When we were preparing for Mineev, we did not have the feeling that we were working for a month only under the protection of “under”. I’d rather hit my leg than my head. Also, if you compare Vladimir and Peter, they have different anthropometry. Romankevich hits you from a distance of two meters and hits you on the leg: then his leg is two meters long. No matter what type of quickdraw you make, you’ll need other protection there. With Vladimir my protection was enough. Each fighter is different, each one hits differently.
We had a lot of groundwork. I wouldn’t say that everything went well, that we worked on it. Maybe I wasn’t relaxed enough to fantasize and experiment somewhere. But again, the psycho-emotional load after the knockout was very great. The first time I had a knockout, the first time I came out after a knockout. Generally, this is a separate story for each athlete. I heard that you need to improve yourself, but I personally have not found myself in such situations. Now I understand what we are talking about: this subconscious fear that you just fell and that prevents you from falling again. Even though some people, I know, take six months or a year to recover, I came out in two months against a serious and tough opponent. It is clear that there were thoughts to not fail, to not fall on one’s face. Something didn’t work somewhere, but overall I wasn’t dissatisfied with the fight.
Ivan Shtyrkov
Photo: RCC MMA
– In the fight with you, Vladimir could not show pressure as usual, it seemed that he was also afraid of your blows. – Pressing “as usual” is a strange expression. You can grab one opponent, but not another. Maybe he was missing something, because in the second round I felt that Vladimir wanted to crush me, I accelerated the pace, but nothing really happened. Every opponent is different: in martial arts you don’t know how he will react in different situations. Furthermore, with a person like me, in this type of sports it is difficult to reproduce the image of the fight that I will show. As Kamil said: “The cat is in a bind.” Because I can face each fight differently, with a different attitude and throw different obstacles. I don’t have a specific image of a fight specifically in kickboxing, because I don’t have a basis.
I think he did the best he could at that time. Some things worked, some didn’t. I felt a couple of good hits. I think, above all, this is the merit of my team. We understood what Vladimir was doing all the time, we knew that there was such a strong blow, there was this one, there was this one. It was unclear how he would reproduce them.
The loud sign was disappointing:
Sparring for nine minutes. Is the fight between Mineev and Shtyrkov a sign of crisis in our sport?
– What did Kamil say after the fight? “Even before the fight, he called me and told me he wished us a good fight. He said that, of course, he would support Vladimir. And these are good words, you understand what they want from you. At this level winning and losing is personal, but for everyone else the most important thing is the show. So that people would say: we would like to see a confrontation like that again. Whether they will give you fights or not depends on this. He said we had completed our task. It is clear that winning is better than losing, but we have what we have.
– Did you see criticism of Mineev from Ismailov? How objective is it? – I haven’t seen it, I’m not a fan of these moments. I know they want to promote the boxing fight. Maga is special at this. She knows how to engage, get to the point. It is clear that now we can say: “Here, Volodya, you should have learned Shtyrkov in kickboxing.” He had more responsibility, such a public one. It seems so, stupid, now you’re going to break it. But in reality not everything turned out that way, and this probably put pressure on Vladimir, no matter how much he showed that he was calm. I think he was also upset in some way.
– Did the fight against Mineev give you an idea of Vladimir’s power, which will be useful to you in the second fight? – I did not underestimate his level. Vladimir is a popular fighter. Kamil made him a kickboxing star, but he was already an MMA star. He achieved the highest results. But his media exposure is at the level of his capabilities. Vladimir has huge advantages and disadvantages in MMA. In fact, I had serious nerves before the fight, one of the strongest. Furthermore, I also went out into his territory.
I didn’t understand what my strengths were, beyond my concentration and desire to immerse myself in the training process. I had no confidence in myself because I was going to fight a top kickboxer. I began to understand better that, in principle, I am not bad. If with Romankevich I understood that there was a short notice, there were factors that calmed me down, but here both fighters were warned about the fight a long time ago, so I am not going to belittle my merits.
Ivan Shtyrkov
Photo: RCC MMA
– Before your fight, Vagab Vagabov said that he was ready to fight you in MMA or with bare fists if you win against Mineev in mixed martial arts. Are you interested in this fight? – I’ll start with the fact that even if I don’t win the MMA fight with Mineev, this fight will still be interesting for Vagab. I don’t understand what kind of reference this is. Now, what difference is there? Mineev, Ismailov, Shtyrkov, Vagabov – there are names that, in principle, are interesting to everyone. Shlemenko himself. At some point in your career you become interesting, and if you show decent fights, you will remain interesting for a long time, even if you don’t always win. At some level, this is not a key factor for organizations. Look, Khan fought with a negative rating in the UFC for unrealistic money.
– But in the end, is the fight with Vagab interesting? – Any fight is interesting for me. Of course, Vagab Vagabov is an athlete and a strong striker. Valuable. If we talk about fists, then for me this is a different story. If I fight with my fists, I probably won’t fight in MMA or kickboxing anymore. This will be a separate milestone in my career: it means I will no longer train MMA or kickboxing. When the story begins with fists, Vagab Vagabov is one of the first on the list of those you must fight. Fights that will be seen and paid for. I won’t say here that I’m not interested.
Ivan Shtyrkov
Photo: RCC MMA
– Your “Archangel Michael” teammate Peter Yan said he will return to the UFC 299 tournament. Does he have a chance of returning to the elite? – It seems to me that this is the break that Peter took in acting, even in training. If we look at Peter’s rapid rise from the ACB to championship fights and three defeats, then this is really internal exhaustion, accumulated injuries that were not healed in time. Here in this euphoria: I want, I want, I want, on the fly. I can imagine the stress he was experiencing, no matter what kind of stone you are, you still worry.
This break should be an advantage, and you have to understand that Petya stayed in extreme shape, so he will regain fighting condition even faster. He’s loaded, I think. He should accelerate well. I think this will be the Peter we’re used to seeing, maybe not as hungry as before, but with a different experience, a lived experience. There was time to think, adapt, rebuild.
THE NAIS IS OFFICIAL EDITOR ON NAIS NEWS