Sergei Kharitonov explains reasons for not signing with the UFC

[sadclown]

That's not really the point.

He is good, but if he wants to fight the best heavyweights most of them are in the UFC.

Do you really think Werdum, Overeem, or Arlovski would have trouble with Kenny Garner even if they had to fight him twice in a row?

He has resigned himself to fighting pretty low tier talent, and that's fine, but let's not make pretend he's some kind of activist for doing so and he's not crushing cans.

He beat Werdum 10 years ago. His last named opponent was 4 years ago and he lost to Josh Barnett pretty easily.

that's not really the point either...

the point, as sergei stated, he's 35 and at tail end of career, he wants to stay active, fight and make money ...

but if he signed with the UFC, he might end up in promotional nightmare, fighting once a year for shite money...


the point is making a living... not some hollywood rocky / vision quest fantasy

 

[HHJ]

I think he thinks the road to the title is too slow,and maybe he thinks the ufc wont promote him properly due to being russian. Well it wasnt any quicker in PRIDE either...in fact its slower in pride than the ufc,but he would have probably had more fights lined up there.

 

[Mike01010101a]

He is right. He is 35 and he needs more fights, more money.

 

[FrontNakedChoke]

Sign him Dana

 

[frandie2b]

I think he thinks the road to the title is too slow,and maybe he thinks the ufc wont promote him properly due to being russian. Well it wasnt any quicker in PRIDE either...in fact its slower in pride than the ufc,but he would have probably had more fights lined up there.

Yeah pretty much, and I get why he said that.

His close friend Alexey Oleinik is 2-0 in the UFC, KO'd Rosholt in his last fight like 6 months ago, and still hasn't a fight booked. That's dumb.

The UFC won't give the easy road to the title shot to non english speaking fighters / marketable fighters.

The exception being Bagautinov, but that's because the 125lbs division is poor.

 

[BobbyTKD]

He appears to be suggesting that there are Russian fighters fighting in the UFC who should have been given title shots but were denied those fights due to some sort of anti-Russian sentiment. Um, what?

He's clearly not the brightest tool in the toolbox... Great fighter though.

 

[Wariowokecancel]

So how many Russians have been denied shots? How many Russians are there actually?

 

[moreorless87]

I think he thinks the road to the title is too slow,and maybe he thinks the ufc wont promote him properly due to being russian. Well it wasnt any quicker in PRIDE either...in fact its slower in pride than the ufc,but he would have probably had more fights lined up there.

I would disagree there, if Sergei had kept on winning he could have been the #1 HW in Pride a year after debut in the 2004 HWGP, if he'd beaten Aleks he probably would have fought Fedor on NYE 2006.

 

[Ancient Warrior]

i guess he is content crushing cans. i myself would want the challenge and honor you get fighting and beating formidable opponents.

Good thing you follow through with your claims and don't just talk tough like so many other people here do.

 

[Doomer]

So disappointing he never got signed.

I thought he actually killed Arlovski when they fought in Strikeforce.

He crushed Arlovski and Overeem in a rematch.

In shape Sergei is a difficult opponent for any UFC HW.

 

[barehanded]

Here is the most important part of the interview:

Asked what sort of contract would tempt Kharitonov to join the UFC roster, Kharitonov revealed that he wanted to remain active and work his way towards a title shot within the year.

"I would want a contract for one year with three fights, which provided I win the first two, grants me a title fight."

He didn't get a title shot even in M-1 after two wins.

 

[lorenzofertatta]

i guess he is content crushing cans. i myself would want the challenge and honor you get fighting and beating formidable opponents.

Im pretty sure he got that from fighting in Pride

 

[frandie2b]

He didn't get a title shot even in M-1 after two wins.

I didn't talk about him getting a title shot, just him getting... a fight.

 

[lorenzofertatta]

Did anybody ever ask Sergei his thoughts about Aleks going to prison for raping his housekeeper? I bet that would be something he can unload on.

Sergei and Aleksander probably had the greatest non-wolf ticket media exchange in MMA history a few years ago. Those guys do not like each other. Really wanted to see them throw down again.

Not to mention their fight was brutal

 

[lorenzofertatta]

Read this and started wondering how many heavies have fought more than once this year. Then I scanned the Sherdog top 10 rankings and found this interesting:

thus far in 2015:

Werdum, 1 fight
Velasquez, 1 fight
dos Santos, 0 fights
Miocic, 1 fight
Arlovski, 1 fight
Browne, 1 fight
Rothwell, 1 fight
Hunt, 1 fight
Overeem, 1 fight
Mir, 2 fights

10 fights between 10 different fighters in almost 9 months.

That is indeed pretty fucking abysmal. Is there any other division stuck in this kind of state?

Facts people!

 

[PapaBherd]

Not sure either is valid at all. The random Anti-Russian thing if that's what he truly meant. Is foolish. And one fight a year? UFC is putting on shows weekly. Heavyweight may be harder but if he wanted to fight three times they easily would be able to and would do it.

He could probably fight more even. But the difference is he wouldn't be fighting nobodies and actually be challenged/damaged so fighting all the time wouldn't be an option.

He's older, it's fine. Just think his reasons are bad. Just come out say you make more fighting easy opponents over there and be done with it. We'd understand.

He fought 7 times in two years. That's an incredibly high number for a HW. Cerrone and Magny are able to fight as much as they do as their divisions take up a huge chunk of the 600+ fighters under the UFC banner. HW has three dozen! Let that sink in. Miocic and Mitrione, who had the most number of fights last year, only had three -- a standard schedule for up and comers and middle of the pack fighters. If that wasn't bad enough, these guys are as injury prone as they come, exacerbating an already hard task to begin with.

The second reason he provided isn't bad by any means, you simply took the liberty to write a narrative in your mind against fighters who choose not to fight for the UFC. And that's okay, we understand.

 

[eiyuu]

Oh well. I would have liked to see Kharitonov in the UFC as well, but if he's happy doing kickboxing and smaller MMA shows, more power to him.

I also think the UFC fall out with Golden Glory didn't help.

I was thinking that too.

 

[barehanded]

He fought 7 times in two years.

Only one fight in 2015.

 

[PapaBherd]

Only one fight in 2015.

And? He's a freelance fighter. Assuming that he isn't injured, he has the freedom to easily get fights for both MMA and kickboxing, and the sum between the two would still be greater than the average number of fights for UFC HW's.

 

[Baba Ghanoush]

Who are these Russian fighters he insinuates should've gotten a title shot but never did?