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Found an interview with Petr Yan just after the fight with Dodson. Thinks it's time to hype this guy up a bit since he is now in top-10 at 135.
For those of you who haven't followed him, here's why this dude could become the next champion at 135. Yan is a master of sport in boxing and was at one point in time candidate for Russian boxing olympic team, but didn't make it because of an injury. He has 80+ fights as an amature boxer. Those who follows boxing know that Russian/Soviet boxing school is no joke and is one of the best in the world. So this guy is one of the best boxers in MMA. He ,unlike most MMA guys who throw 1-2 hit combos, throws 3-4 hit combos which is why he is super effective. He spent his early MMA career in ACB fighting top level wrestlers from Dagestan and Chechnya and even spent some time in Dagestan to work on his wrestling game which is why he has great TD-defence and decent wrestling skills.
Now to the interview:
About his quick rise to top-10 in UFC.
Yan: Yes I've put in some good work, it's an amazing feeling.
In the first round it looked like you struggled and even look shook.
Yan: In the first round I always warm up and feel out my opponent and it's a little chaotic, after I hit a couple of shots and take some of my opponent's shots I get a flow going. I wasn't shook. I was always pressuring him, always had him in my crosshair. I minimized the threat from his powerhand, something like that.
I get a feeling and even before the fight that you have gotten a little bit tired from this tempo (4 fights in 8 month).
Yan: Of course I'm a little tired. I felt it in the last training camp that 4 fights in the last 8 month have taken their toll. Spiritually I'm fine, but physically i feel that my immune system is weakened. And you feel like... sparrings, sparrings, sparrings.. in the last camp I only did fewer sparring sessions, I didn't really want to spar.
Why? Is it because of physical fatigue?
Yan: Yes, I have gotten tired of them and I was afraid of getting injured. So I worked more on conditioning and grappling. I hade little time to prepare. A month ago I flew out to the training camp (Yan usually prepares at Tiget Muay Thai in Phuket, Thailand). From there I went straight here. I didn't really have time to adjust. From tropical heat i came straight to this winter cold. But everything went well.
You connected with a lot of hard shots on Dodson, but non the less he was no shaken by them. Did you feel at that point that you're hitting him but there are no results and no effect from the punches? Did that make you give up a little and tire out, you know like when you get tired from missing many punches.
Yan: No I don't feel like that. I hit him, even if some hits were grazing and not clean, I could see in his face that he is shook, that he is confused, I saw that he didn't expect this kind of pressure. In his last interview leading up to the fight he said that "Yan got some decent striking, decent boxing, but that he can't control the distance during the fight and I'll show that I'm on another level". Well, he's not the first guy who is talking about being on another level (smile). I controlled the whole fight. I held him at a distance where I didn't let him get into his groove, load that power hand of his. I constantly held him at a punching distance and I was constantly looking him in the eyes and I saw that they were "running around".
Did he surprise you in any way? Did he do something unexpected?
Yan: I had a gameplan not to kick him to the body. I have seen his fights where others do it and he is catching it every time. I did it two times and he caught my leg both times. He's a southpaw as well which means that he catches it really good. So I had a plan to not do any of those kicks, but I wanted to try it anyway, maybe lure him with the hands first, but he still caught it.
Then he caught me with a punch in the second round right? But I can't say that I was confused after that. I understood that i caught one and composed my self, quickly got up and tied him up in the clinch. I understood that everything is still under control.
Last time we spoke that you would consider getting with a team when the level of you competition rises. Because at the moment you are doing everything out your own, training, planning everything. You are like your own coach.
Yan: Yes it's true. Yes I go to different camps like Tiger Muay Thai, or somewhere else. They have coaches who I work with on my conditioning, on other different things. But when It comes to planning and distributing this whole process, I think that many fighters do this on their own. I think that in Russia, there are few fighters who have coaches that "lead them". There's no one who knows your body better than you. Right now I want to work on some specifik aspects and develop traits that are the weakest parts of your game. For me it's wrestling, some tactical details. When it comes to my mental game and my character, I think it's all right in that department, I know where I'm going and I will go until the end whatever happens. I love this thing (fight game he means I guess).
Have you considered that as your opposition becomes better there will be a demand to raise the bar for you, to hire better coaches, nutritionists etc.?
Yan: Yes of course I'll do all of that. Usually you should have a about 2,5 month for a good training camp. It's just that during this time the fights have been so frequent, like a month, a month and half between fights. I am constantly in shape, I am constantly training. I didn't even have time to prepare for my opponents individually. Going further, of course I will be preparing more responsibly for my opponents. I am sure anyhow that I will put up a worthy competition to whoever they put in front of me from the top 6. But yes I will be preparing a bit smarter. I have a team who are helping me prepare, I think I will be able to good training camps. I am sure everything will be good going forward.
Soon UFC will have and event in St.Petersburg. Do you have demands like, main event and an opponent that is higher ranked then you otherwise you will not appear?
Yan: We have talked a little about this and think that, those who are ranked higher than me won't come to St. Petersburg. There are a couple guys there who don't have any fight scheduled, but they will not come to St. Pete's. To fight someone that is lower ranked, I don't really want at this point. Everyone wants to keep progressing and we have showed with our performance that we deserve and have a right to take on someone who is ranked higher. So I think that I'll probably won't fight in St.Petersburg. More information will come later, at the moment I don't know anything.
So as things are looking now I will just go to St.Petersburg as a supporter and cheer for our Russian guys who will be fighting there.
And you will finally get some rest?
Yan: Yes I will rest for about 1,5 month and spend some time with my family. Probably go skiing and snowboardning.
(Laugh) It's kind of dejavu. You said the exact same thing before the fight with Dodson.
Yan: (Smile) It's always the same, I'm lying around, trying to rest and I get a call from my manager... "How is it going? How about a fight?"
So you'll just turn off your phone now?
Manager: Now I actually want him to rest.
Yan: We want to do everything right. I need to rest, the I need to travel for some good wrestling training, work on something else.
Could a fight for the title shot make you cancel you vacation and force you to come back to fight for the 5th time in a year.
Yan: Probably yes, I would think about it (smile). I have always been competitive. When it comes to these thing with opponents who are ranked higher than me, I was always motivated by this. This competition is like a challenge for yourself, many people don't believe in you, but i know that I can do this because your opponents are people just like you with two arms and two legs. It's all about the mental aspects and your ability to overcome your mentals blocks in a fight. Everybody can prepare their body, it's a matter of time, you can also prepare mentally but it's more predetermined some have it and some don't. Anyhow if there's a good challenge (laugh) then maybe i'll be fighting again in a month or two.
You know I am like an artist, I say to my self that I will rest for a month, but then one week goes and I'm going crazy and want to train. It's like some kind of disease at this point, when you train constantly for 10 years it becomes an addiction, you feel withdrawals.
After a week of rest I say to my self I'll just go to the gym and do some light bag work. After the bag work the coach comes over and says, there will be some sparrings in the evening... and I'm like "I will come". After 10 rounds of sparring I have to calm my self down "Come on take it easy, it's just a week since your last fight". I need to learn to rest, it's important to get check ups and stay healthy because that's our bread as athletes.
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