June 20, 2011 - The Joe Rogan Experience
02:29:14
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| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
| The Joe Rogan Experience Train by day, Joe Rogan Podcast by night, all day Okay, here we go, Valentina, pleasure to have you in here Very excited. | ||
| Finally. | ||
| I'm here, right? | ||
| Finally, yeah. | ||
| I mean, we've been talking about it for a while, and I've been a fan of yours for quite a long time. | ||
| You're a very unusual person. | ||
| Very unusual. | ||
| I mean, it's unusual to be a martial arts champion, but you're an unusual martial arts champion. | ||
| I mean, you're very diverse. | ||
| You have so many skills and talents. | ||
| It's very strange. | ||
| First of all, how many languages do you speak? | ||
| Three, what I speak, and I'm learning fourth. | ||
| I'm learning Thai now. | ||
| You're learning Thai, because you were speaking Thai after one of your fights. | ||
| The last one, yeah. | ||
| Yeah, so it sounds like you know it. | ||
| Like you say you're learning it, but you've got a lot to say. | ||
| Yeah, it's kind of like I can say a lot, but when I mean I'm learning, I want to... | ||
| So once I will speak it like fluently and I will understand like native people so good, then I consider it, yes, I speak language. | ||
| Before that, it's kind of still learning. | ||
| And I think I started to learn a couple years ago, but I think it's very important to have practice with native people. | ||
| Go to Thailand and forget about speaking English, just speak Thai. | ||
| And this is how you just adopt everything. | ||
| So this is what I want to put this language, Thai language, on the next level. | ||
| Then I will say, okay, now four. | ||
| So, like, you immerse yourself? | ||
| Maybe. | ||
| Yeah, kind of. | ||
| Because for me, I try to do everything, like, the best way I can. | ||
| Not the perfection way, right? | ||
| But the best way I can. | ||
| Now, your first language is Russian? | ||
| Yes. | ||
| And when did you start learning other languages? | ||
| So English, I started to learn it in the school, just some basics because it's like a school program. | ||
| We learn alphabets, some just very easy words and nothing enough for like speaking level. | ||
| But when I started to compete and go and travel for the competition, that was like my push for bringing my like Language level to the next level. | ||
| And when we moved to South America, then I started to learn Spanish. | ||
| But learning Spanish, it was kind of like the hard way. | ||
| I came there with no one word in Spanish. | ||
| No one word. | ||
| And it's straight like to there. | ||
| If you want to learn Spanish, you have to speak Spanish right now. | ||
| And I say, from the moment when I started to speak to the moment when I was kind of like, given my first interview, it was four months. | ||
| After four months, I was given my first interview in Spanish. | ||
| It was not the perfect Spanish, but I still could communicate. | ||
| So, talk us through this journey. | ||
| So, why did you go to South America? | ||
| Um, I, uh, was born in Kyrgyzstan. | ||
| My, um, sister, she's a martial artist. | ||
| I was, uh, starting my training when I was very young age, five years old. | ||
| And definitely, uh, um, like, through all the years what I practiced in martial arts, I compete a lot. | ||
| Every competition, a lot of martial arts. | ||
| And, um, so, um, I started to compete in Kyrgyzstan. | ||
| Then there was not any competition, like any opponents, and it was hard to compete already. | ||
| Then we started to travel. | ||
| My coach, Pavel, who I trained since the beginning, he decided to explore something new. | ||
| We moved to Russia for a couple of years, and then there was also no opponents to fight with. | ||
| And we decided to move next and to see how to explore. | ||
| And definitely, I think, for martial arts, for MMA, for anything in South America, it's a good place. | ||
| And mostly it's interesting to explore, interesting culture from Russia, Kyrgyzstan, it's very far. | ||
| It's kind of like a totally different culture. | ||
| And we decided to explore over there. | ||
| We come to South America, and people there just wanted to learn a lot Muay Thai. | ||
| We started to train, give classes, and they were asking for the seminars, and we stayed a little bit more, a little bit more, and then we decided, okay, why we not stay here and live here? | ||
| And we stayed there and lived for eight years. | ||
| So you initially went there just to find people to compete with? | ||
| No, initially it was... | ||
| It's very hard to say in one word what it was initially because I'm not traveling looking for a gym. | ||
| I'm not traveling looking for something like one. | ||
| I'm traveling to explore new places, to explore new culture, to have different adventures, I can say. | ||
| And this is the initial reason for traveling, to see what is there. | ||
| And once you are there, you're kind of like, okay, South America is a very interesting continent. | ||
| It's not just one country like Peru, where we both live in. | ||
| It's Argentina, it's Brazil, it's Colombia, it's Ecuador, Chile, it's so many different countries and you want to be there. | ||
| You want to explore what is there. | ||
| You want to see how people live, what they think and what they believe. | ||
| And it's kind of like it's pulling you into it. | ||
| It's very hard to say, okay, now it's time to go back. | ||
| Because every time when I'm traveling, I want to explore more. | ||
| I want to see deeper. | ||
| For me, it's not enough to see with the tourist eyes. | ||
| Okay, I take picture here, there. | ||
| I've been there, Mark. | ||
| No, it's not enough for me. | ||
| I want to understand what actually people, how they live. | ||
| Has this always been something that's fascinating to you? | ||
| Like, what draws you to want to know so much about these different cultures? | ||
| Yes, I remember it was since the beginning. | ||
| I just like, it was, it is a huge part of my life. | ||
| It's everything about me. | ||
| And I think it's kind of like the best school, the best education what one can get. | ||
| Because definitely when you're in school, you can learn something. | ||
| But this is like a real school. | ||
| And the travel, it puts you in different life situations. | ||
| And you have to know how to react. | ||
| You have to learn how to communicate with other people. | ||
| For example, I can say, in your city, in your street, in your country, you can be the superstar. | ||
| You travel somewhere else And like, for example, if you are a local star, and you go to the other country, and it kind of like they are okay, that's okay, but what? | ||
| And you have to know how to deal, how to communicate with other people. | ||
| And it's put you on the ground every time. | ||
| And it's kind of like good, even for the, especially for the fighters. | ||
|
unidentified
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Yeah. | |
| So if you talk me through the progression of your career, when you moved to Peru first, that's where you moved, were you already a world Muay Thai champion? | ||
| Yes, it was five or seven. | ||
| Five or seven Muay Thai world champions. | ||
| And did you worry that you wouldn't get good training partners there or they wouldn't be at the same elite level that you're at? | ||
| That part... | ||
| First, I'm never worried about to find the right training partner because I know this is the world. | ||
| It's like so many good training partners, so many different people, so many like you can find anyone. | ||
| No matter if it's a small place, big place, you can find a good level for your training. | ||
| The most important, I think one of the most important ones is to have a right coach. | ||
| Because no matter how good a fighter can be, if it's going to be not the right approach, If it's going to be the right approach, he can rise or she can rise. | ||
| If it's going to be super much talent but not the right approach, he will fall. | ||
| And this is the worst thing I think would happen. | ||
| That's why the most important thing I was worried about was to have the right coach with me. | ||
| That's why I travel everywhere where Pavel goes. | ||
| So Pavel has been with you from the very beginning. | ||
| Yes. | ||
| Yes, from the very beginning. | ||
| That's a huge advantage. | ||
| He is my coach from the first day in his gym. | ||
| Oh, wow. | ||
| I started five years old when I had five years old. | ||
| Wow, so you've been with him since you were five years old. | ||
| Yes. | ||
| I am fighting and training 28 years. | ||
| Wow! | ||
| And since there, it's more like a coach. | ||
| We are a team. | ||
| Me, my sister, Pavel, we are a team who are sharing so many things in common. | ||
| We love the same things, traveling, exploring, seeing different people. | ||
| It's not just a sport, it's like family. | ||
| Well, it's very fortunate that he was willing to travel with you. | ||
| If he didn't want to move to South America, would you have stayed in Russia? | ||
| You know, it's hard to tell. | ||
| It's not hard to tell because I think... | ||
| At a certain point, when everything comes in one, like in something, one complete, it's not a question if they don't want, if like something happened differently, because everything happened as it has to happen. | ||
| And you never think what it would be if it would be different way. | ||
| It just happened how it happened. | ||
| And I know that this passion for travel, it's not just my passion. | ||
| Pavel shares the same passion for travel. | ||
| My sister shares the same. | ||
| That's why we are like a good and strong team. | ||
| Yeah, it's a perfect combination. | ||
| So when you moved to Peru, you had no problem finding world-class strikers to train with and people to work out with? | ||
| You know, it's kind of like when we moved there, firstly, we started to train and to teach Muay Thai and give different seminars because before it was mostly kickboxing. | ||
| So Muay Thai, it's more deeper martial arts. | ||
| It's more complete martial arts because kickboxing is just hands and kicks. | ||
| Muay Thai, it's everything. | ||
| It's elbow, knee... | ||
| And clinching so you can wrestle till the ground. | ||
| So it's kind of like more complete and it has different fight character rather than kickboxing. | ||
| And this is what we're starting to do. | ||
| Every time he was traveling, even we were like living in Peru, we spend it for three, four months in Thailand. | ||
| Every time. | ||
| Really? | ||
| Yes. | ||
| And this is amazing because, for example, we travel for the World Championships there and we just stay there for another like two, three months. | ||
| And this is the best part. | ||
| So where were you training out of in Thailand? | ||
| Were you at Tiger Muay Thai? | ||
| Last six, seven years, it's Tiger Muay Thai. | ||
| It's gym what I represent, what I fight for. | ||
| Before it was Koh Samui, WMC, Lamai Gym. | ||
| So for me, it's every time I was like, if it's Thailand, it's islands. | ||
| And what is the benefit of training in Thailand as opposed to training other places? | ||
| I would say the spirit. | ||
| Because what is Muay Thai? | ||
| It's Thailand. | ||
| It's the spirit of Thailand. | ||
| And definitely to train in Thailand, you have to enjoy everything. | ||
| But I'm not a fanatic of people who just come in there and train in three sessions a day. | ||
| And they don't explore... | ||
| Thailand, what is that? | ||
| They explore the culture, explore the food, explore what's around. | ||
| They just spend all their time in the gym without seeing what's happening outside. | ||
| To understand the full picture, you have experienced everything. | ||
| That's why I say every time, if you want to put yourself on the next level, you have to train but also speak with the people and see what's happening around. | ||
| So it's kind of like open your eyes more widely. | ||
| And you think that actually improves your skill set? | ||
| It just improves your perspective, which improves your skill set? | ||
| I think everything tied to each other. | ||
| So there is no, for example, I would put this example. | ||
| I started to learn, so I speak English, I speak Spanish, right? | ||
| And when I speak, when I started to learn new language, it was helping me to improve my first language. | ||
| So it's kind of like, yes, it's totally different language, but it's helping me to put on the better level something what I have already. | ||
| That's why it's very hard to say if you do something, it doesn't help to put on the next level what already you have. | ||
| So it's interchange. | ||
| It's something that influence on each other. | ||
| That's why for me it's every time Yes, to have better skills in sport, no matter what sport, mixed martial arts, just martial arts or like whatever, definitely you have to spend enough time on your technique. | ||
| You have to spend enough time on your skills. | ||
| But sometimes it's just not enough. | ||
| Sometimes you have to go and see something else. | ||
| I mean like the character of the fight of different fighter. | ||
| To get this experience, to try it on yourself, not only just like, okay, this is my technique and I will perform it the best way that I can. | ||
| Yes. | ||
| But sometimes you have to add yourself, your spirit in this technique to modify it, especially how it will work for you. | ||
| And this is only way how you know this technique will work. | ||
| If you are just like doing it because someone told you that is right, it's one thing. | ||
| But when you started to actually feel the technique, then it became your like so natural thing that it's kind of like dangerous for everyone. | ||
| Is this something that you learned, too, that things all help other things, like whatever you do, the more you experience, the broader your understanding of things, the better it helps all the things you do? | ||
| Or is it something you were taught? | ||
| It's a combination. | ||
| It's a combination of what my mother told me, what my coach, what Pavel told me, and definitely my own experience. | ||
| Because I see it works. | ||
| First, I hear from them it works. | ||
| It's one thing. | ||
| When actually I see it works, it's kind of like put... | ||
| Stronger impact on you. | ||
| And definitely for the experience what I have through all years what I practice in martial arts, I see this is the only way to put your game on the next level. | ||
| And now it's just intuitive? | ||
| Now this is just how you approach things naturally? | ||
| Yes and no. | ||
| It's combination. | ||
| Sometimes you have to... | ||
| To break something like, for example, you're trying to learn something new and you go for it and you go for it and you try it's like and you have like barrier you cannot like break this barrier and you try and you try and you try. | ||
| Sometimes you have to put there a little bit more pressure to break the barrier. | ||
| And it doesn't consist with anything like feeling or something like intuition or something like that. | ||
| But once you break it, then it's like different level. | ||
| And then when you have to start to learn how to feel it from inside to perform it a better way. | ||
| So what was your initial martial art you started with when you were five years old? | ||
| I started with Taekwondo. | ||
| Taekwondo ITF. This was my first sport. | ||
| And then how did you branch out from there? | ||
| What were the years? | ||
| When did you start training in different arts? | ||
| So, every time, what was the idea of Pavel? | ||
| Pavel, every time, was thinking about universal fighter, about, like, fighter who doesn't have any, like, problem, for example. | ||
| If you are speaking about striker, striker every time would feel something weird and like uncomfortable when someone other start to wrestle him, right? | ||
| And wrestler, definitely he will feel not the best, strange when he's fighting. | ||
| So the idea, every time, was to be, like, universal. | ||
| To create from his students universal fighters. | ||
| That's why he put us in different competitions. | ||
| Kyrgyzstan, it's a little country. | ||
| And there is so many martial arts, so many like schools and Pavel have friends like presidents of Federation of Karate, of like different styles, Taekwondo, Wushu Sanda, so like different competition we would have. | ||
| And we competed in different ones, like in my childhood it was like thousand different competitions. | ||
| And this is what, like, helped me to feel the different style of fighting, different technique, and I never had, like, problem to fight in different style. | ||
| It was kind of like how good you can transform yourself, like, switch the chip for the different martial artists. | ||
| That's why I cannot say there was like, okay, this day I switch, stand up for the crowd, or like I start to train like Muay Thai since this day. | ||
| Because it just never happened. | ||
| It was everything like, so naturally, development, like going from one style to another style. | ||
| And more, first speaking about Taekwondo, there is like Taekwondo professional style, pro Taekwondo. | ||
| It's the same like fighting, similar to Muay Thai, but they wrestle with more like throws. | ||
| I mean like judo throws or freestyle wrestling throws. | ||
| So it's more like wide variety of throws. | ||
| So it's kind of like also help for my competition in Muay Thai. | ||
| Yeah, but when I started to compete more frequently in Muay Thai, it's I would say since 2003. And then you became just much more Muay Thai focused? | ||
| Much more, it started about 2005-06, because before it was like, we already started to fight Muay Thai, MMA, and at that time it was less competition for female fighters in mixed martial arts. | ||
| It was very hard to find frequent fights. | ||
| If you want to keep, like, busy and fight every time, you would fight, like, more, like, in stand-up, because there is more opportunities for you. | ||
| And this is how it started that I started to focus more in Muay Thai, because it was more opportunities in Muay Thai. | ||
| But in 2010, when female MMA started to, like, just, like, pooh, explode, yeah, we definitely was, like, thinking to come back, do the same, and we started to compete And Muay Thai and MMA. So it's interesting that the beginning of your journey in martial arts coincides with the beginning of the UFC. So if we go back 28 years, we're talking about like 1993, right? | ||
| Like that is the beginning of the UFC. Oh my god. | ||
| It's a good example, no? | ||
| Yeah, it's a perfect example, right? | ||
| Because one of the things that we've always said as this sport has grown is that it's really interesting to watch these young kids growing up with martial arts, with mixed martial arts, as opposed to, you know, they would be 30 years old with a lifetime of wrestling and then learn how to strike and then enter the UFC. We're seeing people Like yourself, that when you started your martial arts journey was the beginning of the UFC, which is pretty crazy. | ||
| It is, and I think it's... | ||
| And now you're a UFC champion. | ||
| I know. | ||
| It's crazy. | ||
| It's something that means so much for me now, yeah. | ||
| Yeah. | ||
| Well, you're not just a UFC champion, you're one of the best champions. | ||
| It's very unique to watch you fight, because you're one of those people, like Anderson Silva in his prime, where you've kind of cleaned out your division. | ||
| And there's no disrespect to your opponents, but some of your opponents, when I'm watching you fight them, I'm not thinking, are they going to beat you? | ||
| I'm thinking, what are you going to do to them? | ||
| It's a strange position to be in where you're almost like competing. | ||
| You're competing against these women, but your level is so much higher than everyone else in this 125-pound division that there's just not much there for you in terms of like Valentina has to fight this woman. | ||
| There's no fight like that for you. | ||
| I think that definitely this is one of my goals in my performance, in my training. | ||
| And definitely this is like the idea of my fight style to be able to... | ||
| Win the fight, made the fight very beautiful from the technical side, very intensive, very, like, just high-level martial arts. | ||
| But in the same time, without doing, like, dirty fight, like, street fight, just, like, different level, when you can finish your opponent without them touching you. | ||
| So this is kind of, like, ideally ideal. | ||
| Yeah. | ||
| Well, you can see how you sometimes impose the opponent's style on them. | ||
| It's almost like you're challenging yourself, like the Jessica Andrade fight. | ||
| Coming into that fight, most people thought the only way she would have any sort of advantage at all would possibly be grappling. | ||
| And so what did you do? | ||
| You out-grappled her. | ||
| Did you do that on purpose? | ||
| No, no, no. | ||
| I don't know. | ||
| This is what I think. | ||
| It's no. | ||
| Because maybe... | ||
| People just, like, was speaking about that so much, so frequently before the fight. | ||
| Maybe it just stayed in my, like, mind and was there. | ||
| But, you know, I never felt that this is a position dangerous for me. | ||
| Since the beginning, since, like, I know exactly what is my strength. | ||
| I know exactly what is my power. | ||
| That's why it never was a doubt. | ||
| Would I be good there? | ||
| No. | ||
| I know what I can. | ||
| I know exactly what I have to worry about in the fight. | ||
| I know that I have to be careful to see everything because it's MMA. Everything can happen. | ||
| You cannot just go there and say, okay, I'm a champion. | ||
| Everyone has to fall down. | ||
| No, you cannot. | ||
| You have to be wild. | ||
| You have to be like a wild animal ready for anything. | ||
| But at the same time, you cannot overestimate your opponent. | ||
| Because you overestimate them, it's going to be, like, not an interesting fight. | ||
| You're going to be, like, just afraid of throwing anything. | ||
| And that's why you have to find the balance. | ||
| And the balance is everything. | ||
| Where you are, like, you can do whatever without any fear, but at the same time very careful. | ||
| And... | ||
| I never before the fight put some like challenges for me. | ||
| Would I be good there? | ||
| Would I be good like what I do like for my next fight? | ||
| I train myself for the different situation. | ||
| And this is what we are working like and it's not just my work. | ||
| It's like teamwork. | ||
| Pavel, Antonina, we all watching our opponents. | ||
| And we share what we think about them, what we have to worry, what we have to work on. | ||
| And through our training camps, through trainings, we just work on every possible situation. | ||
| And even, for example, I saw some situation in the fight was happening not with my opponent, Or like different, completely different fight. | ||
| And we try this situation. | ||
| We try what I will do, how I would escape, or how I will finish from this situation. | ||
| So we're just getting ready for anything. | ||
| And this is what I think helped me to... | ||
| Take right decision during the fight. | ||
| Because I don't have time to think about what I will do next, what my technique will be next. | ||
| In the fight, everything happens instantly. | ||
| And I have to be sure that my brain and my body are ready to act. | ||
| Well, it's very clear that you have a very well-rounded skill set, but it's also clear that when you're faced with particular challenges, your preparation for those particular challenges almost puts you in a situation where you want to try, like the Juliana Pena fight is a good example of that, right? | ||
| Like you shocked the world when you armbarred her, because everybody felt like if she had a chance to beat you, it would be grappling, and you as a Muay Thai champion, if you had a chance to beat her, it would be your striking. | ||
| Holy shit! | ||
| Like, that was a wake-up call for a lot of people, that you're not just well-rounded, but you're capable of finishing everywhere, that you're lethal everywhere. | ||
| Yeah, this is what every time was in my training, my goals for the competition. | ||
| Not just go there and compete, but go there and win. | ||
| Doesn't matter what I have to do to win the fight, I have to find the solution. | ||
| I have to find the way to win the fight. | ||
| And every time it was like my mindset. | ||
| I don't like like this idea just go and have fun in the fight. | ||
| I don't like idea just be there and like just to experience the feeling. | ||
| I think for someone it's good, but if you have like higher goals for yourself, you have to put higher goals, like higher like things what you're thinking for. | ||
| This is in my head. | ||
| This is what I had since the beginning, that no matter what happening, I have to find solution to turn the fight to my side and win the fight. | ||
| And definitely I was like, I understood fighting in mixed martial arts. | ||
| I have to have more arms. | ||
| I have to have more advantages, like if we are comparing with other fighters. | ||
| Because the more advantage you have, it's kind of like in the war, right? | ||
| You have a handgun, you have a certain percentage to win. | ||
| You have more arms in your position, you have more percentages. | ||
| So I want to have 100% to win the fight. | ||
| That's why I was training everything. | ||
| And training not just pretend to do technique, But know how to make people tap after this technique. | ||
| Yeah, so when you say more arms, you mean more weapons, right? | ||
| Exactly. | ||
| Now, is this something that was just inside of you when you first started doing martial arts? | ||
| When did you realize that you had this competitive spirit that would lead you to become a champion? | ||
| Was this something that you knew from the beginning, or was it something that you developed along the way? | ||
| Did you always know that you wanted to be a martial arts champion? | ||
| I started, as I say, five years old. | ||
| And as a, like, regular child, normal child, like, I doubt that anyone at this age would clearly know what they want, what they want to do in the future. | ||
| For the children, like, it's like, what they want to do, just have fun, play, play around with the same children, like, around. | ||
| And this is, I was no exception, so it was the same. | ||
| I just wanted to... | ||
| I don't know, just to be a child. | ||
| But my mom, she put myself and my sister Antonina to the gym of Pavel and we started to train there. | ||
| So she had vision for us that her children, her daughters, have to do martial arts because she is a martial artist. | ||
| And she knew exactly this is something that she want for us To be strong, to be confident, to be like just fearless of anything because martial arts give that all. | ||
| And definitely at first, it was not anything deep. | ||
| I mean, like knowing that one day I will be the champion or something like that. | ||
| No, it was just playing, doing some techniques in form of play and just exercise. | ||
| But when I started to grow up and I started to understand actually what I'm doing and what I want to be in the future, it was, I'm saying about age 12. This is the perfect age for the children, for the child, to understand and analyze what they're doing in the life, what they're looking for, what is their expectation from the life. | ||
| And this is the age when I... I actually started to train with a lot of sense. | ||
| I understood that this is my life. | ||
| This is martial arts, what I want to be, what I want to do forever. | ||
| This is what I wanted to do. | ||
| And I didn't know... | ||
| Where is it going to lead me? | ||
| I didn't know. | ||
| It's just like you start one thing, you never know where it's going to lead. | ||
| You can expect something, but you don't know how it's going to end. | ||
| And for me, it was just like to have this experience, to have this way in martial arts, just to enjoy the process. | ||
| And this is how everything started. | ||
| But... | ||
| I would say once I start to understand that this is my life, martial arts, then I put my heart to all trainings and I wanted to be better and better. | ||
| And there it was, I discovered my talent, what I can do, what is my good side, and I discovered that I can understand technique way faster than other children the same age. | ||
| And I can perform it a little bit better. | ||
| And so this is how I start to just feel it inside me. | ||
| So your mother was a martial artist as well? | ||
| She is a martial artist. | ||
| She is a martial artist, not just was. | ||
|
unidentified
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What style did she start with? | |
| She's president of Kyrgyzstan Muay Thai Federation, actually. | ||
| Yes, she has her students. | ||
| She has her, like, team, what she's, like, trained and what she traveled to world championships. | ||
| But yes, and she started when she was young, and it's kind of, like, was her passion for her life. | ||
| And I'm so happy that she decides that this is what we will do because it's kind of like, yeah, because of her, I am where I am right now. | ||
| So your mother started with Muay Thai? | ||
| No. | ||
| She started in the time when it was like karate, but it was like Soviet Union karate, underground karate, because you know in Soviet Union it was prohibited to do karate. | ||
| Karate was prohibited? | ||
| Yes. | ||
|
unidentified
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Really? | |
| Yes. | ||
| Interesting. | ||
| Until when? | ||
| Until the Soviet Union collapsed. | ||
| Why was karate prohibited? | ||
| Because the philosophy of karate, it was against the philosophy what Soviet Union had. | ||
| Because karate, it's more like different philosophy. | ||
| It's like Oriental philosophy. | ||
| In Soviet Union, it was ever since strict. | ||
| Interesting. | ||
| So what martial arts were legal in Soviet Union? | ||
| What sport? | ||
| The sport, it was... | ||
| Boxing, judo. | ||
| Boxing. | ||
| It was sambo. | ||
| Sambo. | ||
| Because it's like... | ||
| Sambo, it was a combination of judo and what they created in Russia. | ||
| And these sports like gymnastics, like athleticism, the running, right? | ||
| Like Summer Olympic Games, we can say. | ||
| But the cult of sport was very strong. | ||
| When did combat sambo start to make its emergence? | ||
| Because combat sambo took essentially a lot of the techniques of mixed martial arts, but wore the gi top. | ||
| When did that start? | ||
| You know, I cannot tell exactly, but you know, that sport, sport samba and combat samba, it's definitely, every time more it was about the sport samba. | ||
| It's just a wrestle. | ||
| Yeah, it's every time it was like more, something that more children would do and more like influence. | ||
| But with, I would say, when it's, All martial arts, like taekwondo, karate, it started to be more popular. | ||
| Then definitely it was more time for the fighting styles, for the martial arts, like combat sports. | ||
| It was just insane. | ||
| It just was everywhere. | ||
| So it wasn't until the collapse of the Soviet Union that things like karate and taekwondo and all these other martial arts became popular. | ||
| Yes, and free. | ||
| And free. | ||
| And then they started integrating that with combat sambo and becoming mixed martial arts. | ||
| You know, I would say that combat samba, it was since the beginning, because it's part like, if I'm not mistaken, it was kind of like what military was training. | ||
| So yeah, but if you're speaking about like competition, about what people competing right now, yeah, it's different. | ||
| So you start out with Taekwondo, and then you make your way to Muay Thai, and when you are a teenager, you start deciding that this is going to be your life. | ||
| Did you have any other dreams or interests or hobbies or passions, or was it just martial arts? | ||
| You know, my life, it was so much different things to do. | ||
| And I mean, just to learn different things. | ||
| That's why I never had this, like, oh, I want to do that, that. | ||
| I never had this, like, I have to choose one. | ||
| I have to choose, or I'm a martial artist, or I'm, like, I don't know, something else. | ||
| I didn't have, and I'm lucky that I didn't have this, like, that I have to choose. | ||
| Because, for example, in my opinion, a person can be complete in everything. | ||
| It doesn't matter, like, he can be martial artist, but the same way good artists, like, paint, or, like, play some instrument, musical instrument, or singer, or good shooter, or some different profession. | ||
| Because if you're singing about, for example, we have life, right? | ||
| And To become a professional in something, we are studying. | ||
| For example, it takes five years to be professional in certain things, right? | ||
| If you're speaking about university or something like that. | ||
| So why we don't spend another two, three years to learn something else, another year to learn more? | ||
| And it's going to fulfill you as a person to add more knowledge into you. | ||
| That's why for me it never was like, okay, you're just a martial artist. | ||
| My mom, when I started doing martial arts... | ||
| She said like, okay, you're also going to do dance. | ||
| So it was like same things that I did since childhood. | ||
| I was dancing and doing martial artists because it's kind of like balancing each other. | ||
| It's like, you're not going to one side too much and other side, you're going to be in between. | ||
| Keeps the perfect balance. | ||
| And, for example, then when I discovered the shooting competition, it was another thing that I wanted to learn more, to be there, like, better every day, to just do what I like. | ||
| And same with the languages. | ||
| I never end. | ||
| I don't want to stop to learn. | ||
| I want to learn every day something new. | ||
| It's interesting that that concept of balance was written about in the 1400s by Miyamoto Musashi when he talked about being a great swordsman. | ||
| He talked about balance, that you had to learn poetry and you had to learn calligraphy and art and he was a big believer that you didn't just concentrate on sword fighting, you concentrated on all these things and that they work synergistically, they work together. | ||
| And this is true because you're a good martial artist, yes, but you want to be a good person as well, right? | ||
| And more you know, it's just you are like a better person. | ||
| And I think it's very important. | ||
| Your education, it means a lot. | ||
| And you have to put... | ||
| All money in your education. | ||
| And not only just do whatever you like. | ||
| For example, when you were growing up, for example, anyone had some dreams or some things that was a huge inspiration for them. | ||
| And then for the time pass... | ||
| And you're thinking, okay, now it's too late to start to learn something, and it's kind of like you're just wasting time. | ||
| But actually, it's never late. | ||
| It's never late to learn something you were, like, wanted to do all your life. | ||
| You just have to start to make your first step, and this is the hardest, I think, the first step. | ||
| But once you do it, and once you understand that this is the hardest, How it should work, how it should be. | ||
| Everything is going to be fine and you're going to just love it and just continue to learn, continue to grow, continue to make yourself a better person. | ||
| Yeah. | ||
| It's so smart that your mother enrolled you also in dance and got you to learn dance as well as martial arts because the two, the skill sets are so interchangeable. | ||
| Like you see it like Vasily Lomachenko, perfect example. | ||
| He learned dance for years and he has this incredible footwork. | ||
| That you see has given him a huge advantage in boxing. | ||
| And with you, when you fight, one thing that I've always noticed is you never are flat-footed. | ||
| You're always moving. | ||
| You're never a stationary target. | ||
| You never get lazy. | ||
| Your back heel is always off the ground. | ||
| And that is not the case with everyone. | ||
| People that don't have like the kind of leg dexterity that you have, or the kind of ability to move your footwork. | ||
| Maybe that's a big advantage, I think. | ||
| Agree and not agree. | ||
| It's like, yes and no. | ||
| Because if you want to be... | ||
| Good one at something. | ||
| You have to work. | ||
| You have to spend more time to work on this thing. | ||
| On that thing? | ||
| Definitely. | ||
| Dancers, they're going to help probably with your balance. | ||
| They're going to help with something, but it's not something that would help you to win the fight. | ||
| Definitely, no. | ||
| Do you think it helps footwork, though? | ||
| No. | ||
| I would say it helps with more like if you're speaking a balance. | ||
| Because in dancing we have a lot of spins, right? | ||
| And yeah, different dance have different level, like different movements. | ||
| But I'm speaking about like folk dance, what I was doing, like folk dance, Russian dance. | ||
| It's kind of like part of ballet, part of like traditional dance of different countries. | ||
| and a lot of spins and definitely it's kind of like help you to do like round kicks or something like that but I would say if the lead man your coach have very right of approach of how to teach the students it's not necessary to do dancing He can just or she can just teach their | ||
| students on how to do the footwork, what is the better way to move or something like that. | ||
| The other thing, not every coach naturally like teacher because it's also take a lot of knowledge. | ||
| Coach has to have this like vision of technique and not only vision of How to teach exactly this technique for every student. | ||
| No, also, it's like, he has, for example, five different students. | ||
| Five different, like, biometrics, fight style, like, different type of muscles, different, just different. | ||
| And he has one technique, one, two, like, two straight, like, two hooks, whatever. | ||
| But everyone would hit it differently. | ||
| And if the coach see... | ||
| And combine specific of each fighter with their like right angle how to turn the fist or something like that and can see this detail and say, okay, this is your thing. | ||
| Do it right there. | ||
| This will work for you. | ||
| Maybe it's not the classical one. | ||
| Maybe it's not the right what everyone thinks, like this is the right weight for this punch. | ||
| Maybe it's like just a little bit angle, just something like that. | ||
| But it's work for the student and the student is winning with this technique. | ||
| So this is what a coach has to have, this type of the vision. | ||
| But what I see, many coaches, they know their technique and they don't see the specification of each fighter, the biotype of the fighter. | ||
| And they try to just break the nature gift, what the fighter have, and put this technique, just like what they're thinking is going to be right. | ||
| And this is what I want to say. | ||
| This is wrong because it's kind of like it's not helping fighter to win. | ||
| And to get the right technique for themselves, what it will work for them. | ||
| It's just like what coach, like just he's not naturally teacher. | ||
| This is what I mean the most important. | ||
| It's not about dance. | ||
| It's not about fighting. | ||
| It's about right coach what you have. | ||
| So it's about recognizing that each person is different and not trying to impose one style on all the fighters. | ||
| Exactly, exactly. | ||
| Because even one style can be different. | ||
| It's the same, but a little bit different. | ||
| Just small details. | ||
| And coach has to see it. | ||
| He has to understand. | ||
| And that's really where the art in martial arts comes from, right? | ||
| It's this expression of the individual that comes out while competing and while training. | ||
| Exactly. | ||
| Yes, I totally agree. | ||
| And it is an art, and to us, to people who practice martial arts, when I watch you fight, it's beautiful. | ||
| It is an art. | ||
| Even the most brutal parts of it, like when you knocked out Jessica Ai, it's beautiful. | ||
| The way you set up the kick to the body and then switched up to the head, for someone who appreciates what that is, how you did that, it's beautiful. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I think that's why it's called martial arts. | |
| It's interesting because people that don't practice martial arts, they don't like that term. | ||
| I've heard that described. | ||
| I've heard people talk disparagingly about martial arts, saying that is not art. | ||
| It's just brutality. | ||
| It's just violence. | ||
| And although brutality and violence is a part of the art, it is art. | ||
| Because it's fighting art, definitely. | ||
| You cannot just go there and say to your opponent, okay, let's agree, I do the technique and you will do that technique and then I win. | ||
| So you cannot just, it's all about the fight. | ||
| Yeah, it's about expressing yourself while the other person is trying to express themselves and you both have similar sized bodies, at least they weigh the same, and you're trying to figure out how to impose your skill set and your training and your technique and your mind. | ||
| And that I think is one of the more interesting things about you is this approach that you've taken to life to educate yourself, to immerse yourself in different cultures and to achieve balance. | ||
| Clearly that is having some sort of effect for you as a champion. | ||
| Like you're a different kind of person because of all these experiences and I think that speaks volumes on who you are as a champion. | ||
| I think it's one of the reasons why you're such an interesting person to watch fight. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| I think, yes, it's kind of like experience what I have through the years what I practice in martial arts. | ||
| It's teach me how I have to react for the certain situation in the life, right? | ||
| And I see, for example, many... | ||
| Young people, they are, for example, having some success and they are starting to believe in themselves too much. | ||
| No, belief is a wrong word. | ||
| It's like thinking about themselves too much. | ||
| And thinking about themselves, they are like untouchable. | ||
| Ego. | ||
| Yes. | ||
| And it definitely will affect their trainings. | ||
| But what I learned through the years, In the training, you have to be the most simple person as you can be. | ||
| Because it's a fight. | ||
| It's a real fight. | ||
| It's not a fight and saying what you can... | ||
| Do beautiful leaves and repeat or something like that. | ||
| It's real, exactly. | ||
| And if you have the wrong approach to what you have to, like, represent in the fight, you never will be the, like, winner. | ||
| And definitely it's experience what I got. | ||
| Through the years, it just showed me that while I'm fighting, I don't have time to think about myself too much. | ||
| You cannot. | ||
| You just cannot. | ||
| Because it's going to last before your fight. | ||
| And in the fight, you're going to see, no, it's not working. | ||
| You have to come back. | ||
| So clearly, you have confidence. | ||
| But you also think that it's important to have humility. | ||
| Definitely. | ||
| And important to understand, you have to do everything to win the fight. | ||
| Because if you have... | ||
| You start to have mercy on something like that. | ||
| In the fight, it doesn't work. | ||
| Or you're a winner or you're going to be a loser. | ||
| So decide who you want to be. | ||
| Winner or loser? | ||
| Yeah. | ||
| Just decide. | ||
| It's easy. | ||
| Simple. | ||
| It's simple. | ||
| If it was only that simple. | ||
| Do you have an idea of when you're going to stop competing? | ||
| No, no. | ||
| I don't have any idea because I like the lifestyle that I have right now. | ||
| I feel myself so strong, so healthy, so good. | ||
| That's why I want to experience that feeling as long as I can. | ||
| I want to see what my body is capable of. | ||
| I want to see my limits. | ||
| I want to see where I can go. | ||
| Because if you are, like, put in this certain day, certain year, till what time you're gonna compete, it's kind of like, my opinion, it's not good because you're starting to go to your end, slowly but surely. | ||
| Yeah, it messes with your head. | ||
| You think about it. | ||
| I think so. | ||
| And if you are just enjoy the time, what you are, and just experience and want to just do the best things what you can without like, okay, this is my limit. | ||
| And you just do it the best way you can. | ||
| And this is the only way to explore what you're capable of. | ||
| So right now you're 33? | ||
| Yes. | ||
| And so this is the prime of your athletic life? | ||
| I hope it's still coming. | ||
| I'm sure there's years to go, but this is like athletically... | ||
| They say early 30s for a fighter is their prime because that's when their mind catches up with their body. | ||
| I would add a little bit more about the... | ||
| We don't know, because if we compare what it was 5-10 years ago, how people were at age 30 years old. | ||
| For example, 10 years ago, they would feel themselves as like, okay, it's a lot. | ||
| They are already family persons, and they are not thinking about competing or do something like that. | ||
| Now, we have a different scale. | ||
| Now people at age 30, they feel younger than it was before. | ||
| That's why I don't know if we can say this is a prime. | ||
| Maybe not. | ||
| Maybe prime is now 40 years old. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Who knows? | |
| Well, I think you love competition so much you want to drag it out. | ||
| You want to stretch it out. | ||
| Probably. | ||
| I love it a lot, but it's so hard. | ||
| It's so hard to have training camp. | ||
| And it's more than just physically. | ||
| It's mentally. | ||
| And combination when it's physically and mentally, this is what is really hard. | ||
| Because I noticed that... | ||
| Mentally, what I mean, like mentally, not just your preparation, but when you have to every day train with your training partner or different training partners, and you know it's going to be like mini battle. | ||
| And you know that you have to push yourself to the like doing better thing. | ||
| It's not just like just running or just any physical exercises to do without too much mental like things to push. | ||
| So it's easier. | ||
| But in mixed martial arts, in martial arts, it's combination physically and mentally what it's making that hard. | ||
| That's why it's kind of like so hard during the training camp, but it's worse. | ||
| It's worse when you feel your hands raise up and like everything good. | ||
| Even if something happens, sometimes something happens not the way you want it. | ||
| Even that one, it gives you so much energy to continue. | ||
| That's why, in my opinion, martial arts is the best thing that anyone can have. | ||
| So, meaning when things don't go your way, then it gives you motivation to train harder and get better. | ||
| Motivation and also the energy of the event, of the fight. | ||
| For example, it puts your level of martial art on the next level. | ||
| It teaches you. | ||
| Sometimes you teach one technique for years and sometimes you just have to fight in the real fight and you will understand the technique so fast. | ||
| Yeah. | ||
| When you're talking about your body and your mind and the difficulty, you're now training at the UFC Performance Institute, which is an amazing facility in Las Vegas, which for sure helps the body, right? | ||
| Oh, definitely. | ||
| Because you have access to the state-of-the-art equipment, state-of-the-art coaches and nutritionists, and it's an amazing place. | ||
| Do you work on your mind in sense of do you study psychology? | ||
| Do you meditate? | ||
| Nothing. | ||
| No, no. | ||
| I have very different, very unusual approach for my trainings. | ||
| For example, physically. | ||
| I don't like to train with weights. | ||
| I don't like to train with some very popular equipment, like modern fighters working. | ||
| I prefer to focus myself on the training in the gym. | ||
| For the mental, I work on my mental game during the training as well. | ||
| For example, I give this example. | ||
| My coach, he said in time, Pavel, he said in time how many minutes One round is going to be. | ||
| How long is the training going to be? | ||
| So coming into the gym, we don't have like from 10 to 11, this is our training. | ||
| From 10 to 12, this is a limit for our training. | ||
| No, we have like three, four hours, the window. | ||
| And it's decision of Pavel, when's the training going to stop? | ||
| So it can go all three hours, sometimes all four hours. | ||
| It's all up to him. | ||
| And this is like, for example, this is the mental preparation, the mental game that you are dying in the training physically, but your mind is saying continue. | ||
| Your coach is saying, continue. | ||
| And you are pushing yourself to continue. | ||
| This is the best mental preparation you can have for the fight. | ||
| When your body already says, I cannot, but your mind says, yes, you can. | ||
| It's kind of like opening the second respiration, second respiration. | ||
| Something like that. | ||
| So through this difficult training and forcing yourself to stay focused in the gym, that's where your mental training comes from. | ||
| Yes, because as I said earlier, to be the best version of yourself in anything, in something, in martial arts, for example, you have to do everything what's considering with martial arts. | ||
| You cannot do psychology apart, because if you go to... | ||
| As a person who doesn't know what is that fighter psychology or never was in the fight, it doesn't know how it feels in the fight, they will give you wrong advices. | ||
| They will teach you wrong things. | ||
| No, so it's completely you don't want to happen. | ||
| It's something that's gonna miss. | ||
| They're gonna choke to each other, strike each other, and be completely not... | ||
| Incompatible. | ||
| Exactly. | ||
| So this is what you never want to happen. | ||
| Did you get advice from other fighters? | ||
| Did you train with other champions and get advice from them at all? | ||
| I trained with other champions, but I don't need advice. | ||
| The only person who I take advices, this is my coach, my sister, and my mom. | ||
| Only three persons, what I consider that they have rights to give me advices. | ||
| Well, obviously it's working. | ||
| This is the most important. | ||
| Yeah, the most important thing is that it's working. | ||
| But it doesn't matter I won't listen to something like what people have right, saying right, or something like exactly that I consider would work for me. | ||
| It doesn't mean that I will close the eyes and I won't listen to you. | ||
| No, I won't do that, definitely. | ||
| I will take it. | ||
| But I mean to go to someone and like, okay, share your experience, share your like... | ||
| No, no, it's not. | ||
| Even like you will listen it for a thousand times, if you are not experienced that, you never will feel it. | ||
| It never will work for you. | ||
| Backwards, when I feel a person trying to give too much advice, when no one asks them to give that advice, I feel like, okay, maybe I have to get away from that person. | ||
| That's a weird one, right? | ||
| It's usually someone who's not that good. | ||
| Oh no, they can be good. | ||
| They can be good physically, technically, but they're maybe not that good with their mind. | ||
| Yeah, maybe, right? | ||
| Maybe they're trying to convince themselves by talking to you and giving you advice. | ||
| It's interesting you say you don't like to use modern training equipment. | ||
| Do you mean like weightlifting, like cardio machines? | ||
| What do you mean? | ||
| Exactly. | ||
| Weightlifting, cardio machines, I don't like them. | ||
| You don't like them? | ||
| No? | ||
| No, no. | ||
| But you look like you do. | ||
| It's interesting. | ||
| You look very fit and strong. | ||
| And someone would assume if they saw you and you're fighting, oh, she must do a lot of strength and conditioning work. | ||
| No, I don't. | ||
| No, I don't like to run. | ||
| I hate to run. | ||
| And I don't like to hit pads also. | ||
|
unidentified
|
You don't hit pads? | |
| I hit pads, but I don't like to do that. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Really? | |
| I know some people, it's like favorite thing because they don't have to fight or something like that. | ||
| Like this, have this mental pressure. | ||
| But I rather do five rounds of fight, like sparrings, than do like five rounds on pads. | ||
| No, I just don't like it. | ||
| What about working with power, with techniques? | ||
| Do you like to hit the bag? | ||
| Oh yes, yes. | ||
| I do everything, bags, pads, but I just don't like it. | ||
| You don't like it. | ||
| Do you like any more than the other? | ||
| Do you like bag more than pads? | ||
| For back, it can be sometimes a little bit more lazy. | ||
| You can relax, you can explode, you can manage your timing. | ||
| For the pads, especially when Pavel holds pads, it's just intense. | ||
| All five rounds not stop. | ||
| In the sparring, I can find timing when I rest, when I explode. | ||
| When I'm hitting pads and Pavel holding pads, there is no time for it. | ||
| Just go, go, go. | ||
| You can't control it. | ||
| But definitely what I'm working on, it's like a lot of work with partner. | ||
| When you wrestle, it's your weightlifting. | ||
| It's the same, but with someone who moves. | ||
| Someone who responds. | ||
| Someone who do your protection. | ||
| So for me, this is my training style, what I do day by day. | ||
| And this is where I get my strength, where I get my power, and my speed. | ||
| How many times a day do you train? | ||
| One time a day now. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes. | |
| That's unusual, right? | ||
| For professional fighters? | ||
| For me, no. | ||
| For not for you. | ||
| I would say... | ||
| If a person is still learning and still has many things to work on, or teenagers, or children, they have to work twice a day or three times too much. | ||
| No, twice a day, that's fine. | ||
| They have to work more. | ||
| I was working more, so I was training more when I was early ages. | ||
| Now it's enough one time a day. | ||
| It's more than enough. | ||
| And you know, people sometimes do, for example, one hour in the morning, then sparrings in afternoon, and it's kind of like they're tired here, they're tired there, and they cannot do one hard session and show everything put in the sparrings and have this full energy. | ||
| It's not here or not there. | ||
| It's something in between. | ||
| And you don't know, like, do I have to do that or that? | ||
| And sometimes you just feel so tired when the time is fight and you're changing room in the fighting room. | ||
| Before you fight, you're thinking, oh, I wish it's going to finish soon because I'm so tired. | ||
| This is what I don't want to happen. | ||
| I want to feel so much energy for my fight. | ||
| Because it's good if you are training good, but the most important part to win the fight, right? | ||
| Yes. | ||
| Some people, they confuse. | ||
| They think that they have to train, like, so hard and, like, to prove something like that. | ||
| But for the time in the fight, they don't have energy. | ||
| They're like a balloon. | ||
|
unidentified
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Pshh! | |
| They go down. | ||
| And so this is a very thin line where you have to know what is good for your body and where you have to know how to manage your training system. | ||
| And is this something that you've just figured out about yourself over the years? | ||
| I think this is the... | ||
| What like my team is training right now, how we prepare for the fight. | ||
| Yes, it works for me. | ||
| It works for me because we do very hard session. | ||
| This one, but very hard one. | ||
| Just one. | ||
| But that is unusual. | ||
| If you pay attention to other MMA fighters, they usually break it up to two things a day. | ||
| Usually they're doing a strength and conditioning workout or maybe they're doing pads in the morning and then they're doing some sort of sparring, maybe wrestling and jujitsu in the afternoon and then maybe they'll do MMA sparring in the evening. | ||
| So sometimes you have these three sessions but you prepare differently. | ||
| Yes. | ||
| And I don't like to do like separate. | ||
| For example, now it's Muay Thai time. | ||
| Now it's wrestling time. | ||
| Now it's grappling time. | ||
| I don't like it because we're fighting mixed martial arts. | ||
| It has to be everything in one. | ||
| That's why in my training, we do everything at once. | ||
| So you never just do only jujitsu? | ||
| If you're speaking about training camp, no. | ||
| If you're speaking about, like, after the fight in between, definitely I don't want to spar every day. | ||
| So, like, right now, you just beat Lauren Murphy. | ||
| You're off for a while. | ||
| Do you have an idea of when you'll be competing again? | ||
| I don't have it yet. | ||
| I didn't ask UFC yet about my next fight. | ||
| And, yeah, I just take my time. | ||
| Yeah, so right now you maybe would do a jujitsu class or train something differently just to try it out? | ||
| Yeah, I could. | ||
| I train every day. | ||
| Not every day. | ||
| Now I train like one day, one rest, one day, one rest. | ||
| But just to maintain. | ||
| Maintain physical and maintain mood. | ||
| The most important. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Mood. | |
| Mood. | ||
| So you need some training just to stay calm. | ||
| To stay happy. | ||
| Happy, yes. | ||
| Not calm, happy. | ||
| Right. | ||
| Because I feel that, I don't know how people feel with no trainings. | ||
| Like they just don't train. | ||
| They just don't sweat. | ||
| And it feels so bad. | ||
| Feared for me. | ||
| I feel that the sweat, it's like, it's favorite phrase of my sisters. | ||
| Like, when you take shower, like, you feel clean, right? | ||
| But when you sweat in the training, you feel clean from inside. | ||
| So this is for me that I have to do constantly. | ||
| And I just feel if I'm not training, my mood is, like, Starting to be crazy and it's like you never know what to expect. | ||
| Now she's laughing, that's why she's angry. | ||
| No, I have to train her. | ||
| That's the case with everybody, I think. | ||
| I really do. | ||
| I just think most people just choose to live this way where they don't have a real good grasp on their body and a good control over it because of exercise. | ||
| Yes, yes, I think so. | ||
| It's definitely, even training martial arts, you don't have to fight. | ||
| You don't have to be a professional fighter. | ||
| Just do it for yourself and everyone would feel the difference. | ||
| They're going to be happier people. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah. | |
| So when you structure your training camp, does Pavel structure it all? | ||
| Like say if you have a fight and it gets scheduled, you have 12 weeks or whatever you use for preparation. | ||
| Does Pavel schedule everything? | ||
| He schedules everything. | ||
| So you just show up, put in your time, and that's it. | ||
| Yes and no. | ||
| We are participating in everything. | ||
| So it's not something that... | ||
| I like to know everything. | ||
| I like to understand how everything works. | ||
| And I'm not only speaking about training and the training camp. | ||
| I'm speaking about everything. | ||
| It doesn't matter what we do. | ||
| I want to understand what we're gonna do, what is like things we will work. | ||
| So it's kind of like Work, teamwork. | ||
| And definitely we are speaking about what to expect from the training camp, where we gonna have training camp, because it doesn't mean we are training like at the same location all the time. | ||
| We love to travel, to have training camps in different gyms. | ||
| In different states, in different countries. | ||
| So we plan it in advance. | ||
| We're thinking about, like, considering, for example, my fight's gonna be in this type of the climate. | ||
| So where it's gonna be better to train? | ||
| And we just plan it all together. | ||
| This is, I think, the best when everyone knowing what's happening. | ||
| And you've moved around in this country as well, right? | ||
| You've trained in Denver for a bit? | ||
| For the fight with Juliana Pena, yes. | ||
| So is that when you started training with Rose? | ||
| Because you and Rose have done some training together too. | ||
| Was that beneficial for you? | ||
| I think it's beneficial for everyone. | ||
| For example... | ||
| When high level athletes training each other, it's kind of like good for both. | ||
| It's everyone can take something for themselves. | ||
| And it's something that good experience and we build our like good relationship, friend relationships. | ||
| And it's amazing to have friends who are doing, like, the same thing what you are doing and sharing the same ideas what you are having. | ||
| For this training camp, for example, in my training camp was Brendan Marina. | ||
| And it's, like, he's an amazing guy, very strong guy, very, like, strong technique. | ||
| And it was amazing to train with him as well. | ||
| So I think it's, like... | ||
| Every time, no matter who I train with, I learn something new from them. | ||
| No matter what levels they are, I able to learn something from them. | ||
| Do you take trips specifically, like say if you're gonna face someone who's a great judo expert, do you train specifically, like would you go to a place and train with like a Kayla Harrison or something like that, or someone who was specifically a judo stylist? | ||
| First of all, we're considering to have a similar weight class. | ||
| This is the number one rule. | ||
| Because, for example, if someone is... | ||
| I'm not just speaking about Kayla right now. | ||
| I'm speaking like a general. | ||
| I know. | ||
| I'm speaking about general. | ||
| Sometimes it's not beneficial. | ||
| Even the person, they are skillful, super controlled, and do so good at their things. | ||
| their heart full power because they are just bigger and they just stronger it's not good for you because you have to feel this like moment when you're kind of like breaking them or they kind of like have this thing when they are like in their technique you have to feel the moment you have to be able to go hard Exactly. | ||
| And this is like the number one rule. | ||
| So I like to train and I'm trained with a training partner similar to my weight class. | ||
| When you have competed at 135 pounds, was that an issue? | ||
| Like when you went up to 135? | ||
| Well, your first fights in the UFC, there was no 125 pound division. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes. | |
| So like when you fought Holly Holm, when you fought Amanda Nunes, these fights are all at 135 pounds. | ||
| Did you feel when you were in that division that you were just a little undersized? | ||
| Oh yes, definitely. | ||
| I was a smaller one. | ||
| And for 135, I never was worried about cutting weight. | ||
| What did you weigh when you weighed 135? | ||
| Did you walk around? | ||
| Walk around. | ||
| This is my walk weight right now. | ||
| Like 135, this is my walk. | ||
| And if I stop to train for like one week and eat every day, 138 might be maximum. | ||
| But with training, it's like 135, 136. So yeah. | ||
| And definitely it's... | ||
| I didn't experience any problem fighting 135, but definitely I would have to think more about strategy for the fight. | ||
| Being smaller, you have to think about Different tactic. | ||
| How to approach two different fighters. | ||
| Because sometimes you will have enough power to break them, sometimes no. | ||
| So it's kind of like yes or no, maybe. | ||
| And you have to have your backup plan and you have to have your body ready for different game plan. | ||
| That's why I didn't have problem to fight in 135, but every time I was to think about something, extra things. | ||
| Do you foresee a possibility of you competing at 135 pounds again? | ||
| Because Amanda Nunes is kind of running out of opposition and you're kind of running out of opposition and you both had epic fights against each other. | ||
| Do you think that that's possible? | ||
| There is only one possibility. | ||
| Why I move up to 135 and this is it. | ||
| Do you think that could be the case someday? | ||
| I think so. | ||
| Why not? | ||
| If everything's going to continue that way, it's just going to be inevitable. | ||
| Is there anyone in your division right now, in 125, where you look at them and you say, I want to fight her? | ||
| It's just not my style. | ||
| It's not my style, I would say, to pick an opponent for you. | ||
| Because all the time when I was fighting Muay Thai, MMA, I was like, Valentina, would you fight her? | ||
| Yes. | ||
| Valentina, would you fight her? | ||
| Yes. | ||
| Her? | ||
| Yes. | ||
| So it was like the way I am. | ||
| It is the way I am. | ||
| I'm not choosing my opponents. | ||
| I'm not looking for some easy fights. | ||
| I want to fight with the best ones. | ||
| That's why... | ||
| I just not pick and run. | ||
| I just wait when you see, like, okay, this is your opponent. | ||
| Well, it is an unusual situation, though. | ||
| Like I said, you are in this position that's very similar to, like, many of the great fighters that are dominant champions where you don't have one person who stands out. | ||
| I think that there is a lot of girls. | ||
| And 125, it's the most comfortable weight class for females. | ||
| 125, it's not too big, not too small. | ||
| And a lot of girls, they are in this weight class. | ||
| And from the straw weight, they're going up. | ||
| From the bantam weight, they're going down. | ||
| So it's just like... | ||
| Very strong girls over there. | ||
| But as I said, it's wrong to compare when they fight me and you have to watch them fighting to see their levels. | ||
| Because my goal is to fight differently. | ||
| It's like I say, when you can finish them, but they cannot touch you. | ||
| So it's every time was the same. | ||
| Muay Thai was the same. | ||
| For example, I was watching them fight to each other before I fight them. | ||
| And I was like, wow, yeah. | ||
| But then it's completely different. | ||
| So it's kind of like... | ||
| And 125, I think there is like whole rosters, they are very good. | ||
| They are very strong. | ||
| And you could see the last event when it was all bonuses for the female fighters. | ||
| There's obviously some great talent in the female division of the UFC. Was Amanda Nunez your most difficult fights? | ||
| I never was considered... | ||
| Difficulty of the fight only for the fight, for this five rounds or less. | ||
| For me, difficulty of the fight, it's combination of training camp, your approach to the fight, fight week, and the fight itself. | ||
| I still cannot, like, answer this question. | ||
| I think it's the hardest question. | ||
| And every time people ask me, like, what is your hardest fight, hardest opponent? | ||
| And I just cannot answer because it's so different. | ||
| Each fight, it's a different approach, different training camp. | ||
| Everyone is difficult. | ||
| Difficult with their, like, own style, something like that. | ||
| That's why it's hard to say, hard. | ||
| What is difficult about Amanda's style? | ||
| Her size is... | ||
| Size? | ||
| It's not her style. | ||
| It's not her style. | ||
| It's just she's big and heavy. | ||
| Yeah. | ||
| And power? | ||
| Everyone has power. | ||
| Everyone has power. | ||
| If you're speaking about 135 weight class, everyone has a lot of power. | ||
| But Amanda, I think she's just bigger than anyone, bigger. | ||
| You think she's bigger than the rest of the division? | ||
| What is her working weight? | ||
| 160? | ||
| 170? | ||
| I don't know. | ||
| Is it really that big? | ||
| I don't know. | ||
| Well, she does fight at 145 and she looks the same at 145 as she does at 135. And obviously at 145 she's able to knock out Cyborg. | ||
| Yeah, yeah. | ||
| It's kind of like, you know, what about the knockouts? | ||
| Everyone has, like, chances to knock out each other. | ||
| So it's just like, it's 50-50. | ||
| It's the situation. | ||
| If... | ||
| For example, you have interchange. | ||
| The chances are more for each one, right? | ||
| But you have to fight very smart. | ||
| You know that small gloves, it's like more possibility to be knocked out or you make the knockout. | ||
| So if it's kind of like, are you or you gonna hit or they gonna hit you? | ||
| So it's kind of like, this is what I saw in their fights. | ||
| So it was interchange. | ||
| And this interchange who's on that moment were more lucky. | ||
| If you had a long time out, like if the UFC said, here we are, we are in October, if they said, Valentina, August, next year, we would like you to fight Amanda Nunes. | ||
| That's going to be this big, super fight. | ||
| Would you try to gain weight? | ||
| Would you lift weights? | ||
| Would you do anything differently? | ||
| Or would you just concentrate on technique and strategy and maintain the same weight you're at now? | ||
| We are in October and August. | ||
| Do you know anything they're going to approach me with this? | ||
| I'm going to try. | ||
| I think when I look at the two of you, it's the most compelling fight in the UFC, in the women's MMA, I believe. | ||
| That's the most compelling fight. | ||
| It's because you're both at the top of your game and there's an argument for both of you to be the greatest of all time. | ||
| I'm not gonna do anything special to lift up my weight. | ||
| You wouldn't start working out and lift weights? | ||
| No, no, no, no. | ||
| Because I don't believe it's gonna help. | ||
| I believe it's gonna be worse for the fighter. | ||
| Because if in your whole life you was like a certain body type, you know how to carry like certain muscles, amount of muscles. | ||
| And then suddenly for last 2-3 months you start to carry way more. | ||
| So what's gonna happen? | ||
| You're gonna be slower. | ||
| You're not gonna have same resistance for the whole fight because you have to carry more weight on top of you. | ||
| So I will do the same. | ||
| I just want to do the last day weight cut for what I do for 125. I'm not going to lose six pounds, what I do. | ||
| That's what you do for 125. And I just will eat normally as I do and train the same way as I do. | ||
| It's interesting to see different people's approaches, right? | ||
| Like when Israel Adesanya went up to challenge Jan Bohovic for the 205 pound title, he did the same thing that you're saying. | ||
| He didn't gain any weight. | ||
| He just concentrated on his technique and training. | ||
| But there was moments in that fight where the size of Jan Bojovic was evident in the grappling exchanges when he was able to control him on the ground. | ||
| Do you think that there's any benefit? | ||
| I mean, this is why I'm saying if you have a long time. | ||
| I'm not saying if you just have a normal eight-week camp. | ||
| I'm saying if they give you eight months, nine months, and they let you know in advance, you still don't think you'd ever try to gain any weight? | ||
| I don't think it's still gonna help, because someone naturally bigger, every time they'll have this advantage, being bigger. | ||
| No matter how more weight you're gonna put on top, you are still the same, just with the extra weight on you. | ||
| Well, that's why I'm interested in John Jones. | ||
| And John Jones, when he's trying to move up to the heavyweight division, he's gained a lot of weight. | ||
| And he wants to be over the 265 pound limit and then cut back down to 265. So I believe he's walking around somewhere in the 260s now. | ||
| I think we will know the answer only when he will fight in this weight class. | ||
| And we will know exactly how it's going to affect him. | ||
| Will it be good for him or bad for him? | ||
| So we don't know. | ||
| As I say, every person is different. | ||
| And I know how my body works. | ||
| I know what is good for me, what is bad for me. | ||
| Israel, he knows exactly the same about his body type. | ||
| John Jones, he knows exactly about himself. | ||
| So this is everyone's approach. | ||
| And I think everyone should do what they think is going to help them to win. | ||
| So for you, from going down from 135 to 125 was the right move. | ||
| You felt like much better at 125. It's my natural weight class. | ||
| It's like what I was competing all the time. | ||
| Have you ever thought of going lower? | ||
| 1.15 and die from their hunger. | ||
| But there are some girls who fight at 115 that look in between fights very similar to you. | ||
| Physically. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I know. | |
| I know. | ||
| And I really don't know how they do that. | ||
| Like Ioana. | ||
| You and Ioana fought in Muay Thai. | ||
| Yes. | ||
| And what weight was that at? | ||
| 57 kilos is 125. Yeah. | ||
| Which is your natural weight. | ||
| And then Ioana has had notorious struggles to get down to 115. Yes, I know, yes. | ||
| And she is like... | ||
| That's why I have so much respect for her, what she is doing. | ||
| It's amazing. | ||
| And when she is fighting 115, after all this weight cut, and showing all technique, what she is showing, it looks so impressive. | ||
| And it's very hard to do that. | ||
| And I know it's very hard. | ||
| But, you know... | ||
| I feel good 125. I don't see a reason why I have to move down to 115. I don't want to try. | ||
| Because now it's my best shape. | ||
| If I will try to lose my weight, it has to be a huge reason why I do that. | ||
| Because... | ||
| We have to consider what's going to be after. | ||
| I will lose all that, but it's going to affect my performing in 125 as well because everything has sequences, right? | ||
| Yes. | ||
| And that's why you better think twice before you take decision. | ||
| But no. | ||
| Yeah, I wouldn't think that was a good idea either. | ||
| I was just curious. | ||
| I think that there is a real issue with fighters that lose a lot of weight, and I think the long-term consequences are probably ultimately not worth it. | ||
| No, exactly, exactly. | ||
| It's kind of like the same, the opposite way, for example. | ||
| They are going down too much. | ||
| They are, like, having this extreme cutting weight. | ||
| But them, all weight, it has, like... | ||
| Tendency come back like double, triple with the friends. | ||
| And then it makes it harder to go back and cut the weight again. | ||
| So it's kind of like it's going that way once, working once, but then you have to do it harder and harder before you decide that it's not a smart thing to do. | ||
| Yeah, your body starts to think that it's experiencing famine. | ||
| And also, it's fine. | ||
| It's okay when you have 20, 25 years. | ||
| But if you are thinking about long-term fighting, you have to think about your health as well. | ||
| Do you think there's enough weight classes in the UFC? Would you like to see more weight classes? | ||
| For say female fighters? | ||
| Yes. | ||
| Like 145, 105, something like that, or something in between? | ||
| Yeah, the way they do it with boxing. | ||
| You know how boxing has so many champions and they have so many different weight classes. | ||
| You know, like boxing, they have, you know, oftentimes like every four or five pounds would be a new weight class. | ||
| I think, like, to do that much, I don't feel it's going to be worth it. | ||
| Like, I don't feel that it's something that UFC has to do. | ||
| Because UFC has so unique type, and it's, like, it's uncomparable to anything. | ||
| It's, in my opinion, it's even bigger than Olympics. | ||
| It's way bigger than Olympics. | ||
| That's why, yeah, maybe 105 for a smaller goal. | ||
| On 145 we have 145. But not in between. | ||
| I don't think so. | ||
| Yeah, there's a much more limited talent pool as well, right? | ||
| It's just not so many mixed martial arts fighters like this. | ||
| Because what is UFC? You see it's rosters. | ||
| It's the best ones. | ||
| The best ones in the world. | ||
| It's not just a small league where you have different levels of competitors. | ||
| It's like you can see the roster. | ||
| It's like low level. | ||
| Here's the high level. | ||
| No, here it's like since the beginning to the end. | ||
| Super high level of everyone. | ||
| This is what makes it so unique, so special. | ||
| Well, it's really interesting because that level has increased dramatically over the last decade and a half. | ||
| When we first saw Ronda Rousey competing in the UFC, some of the earliest female fights in the UFC, the competition that she was facing was just not at the same level as the male competition. | ||
| But now, when you see Rose Namajunas versus Zhang Weili, that is a very, very high-level fight. | ||
| And it's very exciting because they're both world champion, elite martial artists. | ||
| So when they fight, you're seeing two of the best of the best, period, in the sport. | ||
| It is. | ||
| And this is saying about how fast and how far mixed martial arts developed. | ||
| And even if we are comparing UFC fighters 15, 20 years ago, it's going to be different. | ||
| Now it's like mixed martial arts, it's complete fight style. | ||
| It's not a fight between stand-up fighter, boxer, or wrestler. | ||
| It's two high-level MMA fighters who know how to dominate so good in boxing, so good kicking, like Taekwondo, so good wrestlers and grapplers. | ||
| So it's speaking about the... | ||
| How MMA develops through the years. | ||
| And it's amazing because now we can see there is no difference. | ||
| Female fighter, male fighter, they are just like performing the best way and it's amazing. | ||
| Watch them, how they compete. | ||
| It really is amazing when you think back from when you first started training martial arts as a five-year-old girl in 1993 to today, the UFC is almost unrecognizable. | ||
| If you go back and watch any other sport from 1993, say like football or basketball, it looks similar. | ||
| I mean, you might have better athletes today and better training today, but it looks pretty similar. | ||
| Today, martial arts has expanded so far above and beyond what it was at in those days. | ||
| Yes, and this is like a dream for a mixed martial artist. | ||
| Every time it was a dream of mine, to be comfortable in everything. | ||
| Know how to fight in every single situation. | ||
| Don't have any... | ||
| Fear that, okay, if someone will throw me down, what should I do? | ||
| No, I don't know. | ||
| This is an amazing thing of being a mixed martial artist, that you are so complete that you kind of like, you don't have a fear. | ||
| You just like know how to do in any situation. | ||
| Do you remember the first high-level female mixed martial arts fight you watched? | ||
| Do you remember who it was? | ||
| Oh. | ||
| Was it Gina Carano? | ||
| Was it like Elite XC? Was it Strikeforce? | ||
| What was it that you saw? | ||
| You know, back then, people are more like young generations. | ||
| They don't have any idea how it was back then. | ||
| To watch some fights, you have to have this VHS cassette. | ||
| You have to have not only this tape, but also the whole equipment to watch that. | ||
| And it's only special people would have it. | ||
| And being here in America, in the United States, it's different than being there. | ||
| It's everything way harder over there. | ||
| It's so much technology here and not yet over there. | ||
| So it's kind of like was very hard to watch fights. | ||
| It's only like special people would have this VHS tape. | ||
| So it's kind of like, I would say... | ||
| First, like, fights, female fights, for me, if you're speaking about youth, definitely when I was competing Muay Thai and MMA, I was watching, like, different fighters from, like, their countries and, like, definitely, like, high level from their countries. | ||
| And it was my first championship, but I won world champion in mixed martial arts. | ||
| It was South Korea in 2003. It was my first MMA. That was your first MMA fight? | ||
| Title, what I won. | ||
| It was the World Championships in South Korea, in Seoul, against Korean fighters, the best in their response. | ||
| So, yeah, but I would say... | ||
| Since MMA started, female MMA started to develop through the world a lot, it was probably Gina Karana and Chris Seiberg. | ||
| Yeah, that was a big one. | ||
| This is when it started, and it was a big push. | ||
| But definitely with Rwanda it was kind of like the second wave much powerful and it's like going beyond the limits and it was very important for the female martial arts. | ||
| That was, I mean, there was two waves, right? | ||
| I think you said it perfectly. | ||
| There's the Gina Carano wave and the Chris Cyborg wave in the early days. | ||
| And then right after that, Ronda Rousey. | ||
| I think so, yeah. | ||
| And I think Ronda was an even bigger wave. | ||
| Exactly. | ||
| The way she was finishing everybody. | ||
| She's this beautiful woman who was so skilled and, you know, arm barring everybody. | ||
| I think also it takes place that it was UFC fights. | ||
| Because no matter how talented you are, no matter how beautiful you are, if you're fighting in the smaller league, it's gonna stay in the smaller league. | ||
| So when they first started having fights in the UFC, how exciting was that for you when you saw women fighting in the UFC for the first time? | ||
| No, it was the same for me. | ||
| It's like, I don't know. | ||
| You didn't think, like, that could be me now? | ||
| No, no. | ||
| I never had these, like, things, it could be me, that, or I will compete there. | ||
| I just was like, okay, it's happening, it's opportunity, definitely it can be someday, but it wasn't something like, oh, I have to be there, and I was like, do anything to be there. | ||
| I just, every time in my life, I don't like to rush things. | ||
| I just like do everything for make it happen, to be ready when it happens, but in the same time to not do like some crazy movement towards that one because it's not right, I think. | ||
| It's completely like... | ||
| Not right, because you're just losing your style yourself. | ||
| I just... | ||
| Okay, it's happening. | ||
| It's a good sign. | ||
| But I continue doing my life. | ||
| I don't know what it's going to be like through some years. | ||
| And for example, I tell you, local fighters born in the United States, five, seven fights, they have a chance to be in the UFC. A fighter who was born far has to make a whole circle around the world, | ||
| living in South America for eight years, winning 17 times world titles, and then, only then, being signed for the UFC. Well, that's you! | ||
| I had a long way. | ||
| I'm not complaining. | ||
| I think it's a very good thing. | ||
| I think it's a very good way because I am ready for where I am right now. | ||
| Because you can see... | ||
| Fighters who are mentally not ready for being in the position where they are. | ||
| And just they are starting to break. | ||
| And they're thinking, oh, it's so much pressure. | ||
| I am not ready for that. | ||
| I don't want my title. | ||
| I want to give up. | ||
| I don't want to do it anymore. | ||
| So this is not right because they're going to fight. | ||
| They're still going to come back and fight. | ||
| And I think it's better fight for the title than be a challenger to defend your title. | ||
| But in my case, I already was so ready to do what I am doing. | ||
| I am ready mentally. | ||
| I know that my first fight definitely was huge. | ||
| It was big. | ||
| It was different to compare to other leagues where I competed because it was just big. | ||
| But I was ready for it. | ||
| It didn't put any pressure on me. | ||
| Extra. | ||
| I think you make a very good point because I look at some talented young fighters and I say this person has a lot of potential, but they're in the deep water too quickly. | ||
| I know. | ||
| And then they're going to get hurt. | ||
| So they'll fight against someone who is far better than them and they'll get set up and hurt. | ||
| And I think they might have a better chance at a better career, a better result if they started out in the smaller leagues and worked their way up. | ||
| I think that Dana White's Tuesday Night Contender Series is amazing and I love the fact that these things exist. | ||
| Even The Ultimate Fighter, I think it's amazing that these things exist. | ||
| But there are some fighters that I think should hold off and wait. | ||
| And some do, like Yuri Prochaska. | ||
| He's a good example. | ||
| Offered him the UFC years ago. | ||
| I believe it was like five years ago. | ||
| And he's like, I'm not ready yet. | ||
| And he's very smart. | ||
| And by the time he was ready, man was he ready. | ||
| I mean, you look at his two fights in the UFC, Volkan Ozdemir knocks him out, and then Dominic Reyes knocks him out. | ||
| So two fights in the UFC, already in contention for the title. | ||
| Amazing. | ||
| Amazing, but it's because he was ready. | ||
| Whereas some other fighters, maybe they get there too soon and you're seeing them gonna get beat up when they're fighting someone that's too many levels above them where it's not really competitive yet. | ||
| Like they're not, they don't have the skills. | ||
| Some people can just rise. | ||
| Like Jon Jones again, he's another example. | ||
| He was in the UFC early in his career. | ||
| But he was so talented that he was able to dominate guys like Mauricio Shogun Hua in his first title fight when he was 22 years old, which is crazy, right? | ||
| But some people, they're just not ready yet, but they could be. | ||
| They could be one day. | ||
| And I think that they get into the UFC maybe too soon. | ||
| Whereas with you... | ||
| You had so much experience. | ||
| World Championship Muay Thai fights. | ||
| You had MMA fights. | ||
| You had all this experience. | ||
| You were like a fully developed martial artist by the time you got to the UFC, which I think is the perfect way to do it. | ||
| I think, for me, it works so good, everything. | ||
| It works so well, and I was ready. | ||
| I knew exactly what I want. | ||
| I knew exactly what is my goal, what I have to do to, like, To continue, make my life interesting. | ||
| And this is what I'm still doing. | ||
| I know exactly what I have to do. | ||
| I don't have any doubts how to have my life, how to live my life, to still feel like this interest is for the life, interest for martial arts, this desire to keep training the same hard way as I do. | ||
| So I know exactly how to maintain that. | ||
| And this is, I think, the best. | ||
| Because for me, martial arts, it's not just sport. | ||
| It's my, every time I say, it's my lifestyle. | ||
| Even my philosophy. | ||
| Even, for example, if you come back to the question about the meditation and, like, all these things. | ||
| For me, gym. | ||
| Place where I train, it's like my temple. | ||
| I'm coming there without laughing, joking, or because when you're going to the temple, you have to be respectful for what you're doing, for everything that's around you. | ||
| This is, for me, my gym. | ||
| I'm very respectful for that place. | ||
| And I know exactly if I will be respectful, it will keep me safe from injuries. | ||
| Not every time, but most likely. | ||
| Because I will... | ||
| I will be focused on what I am doing without any distractions. | ||
| That's why for me martial arts, it's for me as a person. | ||
| It's teach me so much. | ||
| I'm so grateful for martial arts because it's like everything what I am right now, it's because of martial arts. | ||
| Do you have long-term goals? | ||
| I mean, you are already a world champion. | ||
| You're already at the top of your heap. | ||
| Do you have goals? | ||
| I just want to continue to have the way of life what I have, the style, lifestyle what I have. | ||
| I don't like to set up these kind of goals. | ||
| I think it's good to know because if something went... | ||
| You don't know what exactly goal. | ||
| Sometimes you can invent the goal and if it's not fit for you, it's not happening, you're just gonna feel frustrated. | ||
| I just try to prepare myself for the, like, to put in myself more knowledge, what I can have. | ||
| I mean, fighting and general, like, life, like, just to have, like, more things to know how to do. | ||
| And where the opportunity will come, and it can be like anything. | ||
| It's like, whatever. | ||
| I will be ready to take it. | ||
| But I know that when it comes, you have to be smart to react fast. | ||
| Because sometimes people think, oh, maybe this is not time. | ||
| I will wait for another one, but another one can never happen. | ||
| So then you're thinking, ah, I should do that. | ||
| So it's kind of like hard, hard decisions. | ||
| Do you have ideas about careers that you would like to explore when you're done fighting? | ||
| When I'm done fighting. | ||
| Done fighting but still like it can be like not done fighting so it can be both. | ||
| I very like movies, action movies. | ||
| So yeah, acting is one of the options that I really enjoy. | ||
| I don't feel myself like it's something hard what I have to do. | ||
| It just happens like everything that I do is naturally. | ||
| I feel that way. | ||
| So I don't know, maybe shooting competition. | ||
| Maybe after I finish compete fighting, I will compete in shooting. | ||
| Why not? | ||
| I wanted to talk to you about that. | ||
| When did you get involved with guns? | ||
| When did that become a big part of your life? | ||
| I have the introduction was like gun world from my coach, from Pavel. | ||
| He was served in army, in Soviet army. | ||
| So yeah, definitely has a lot of knowledge about different arms, guns. | ||
| And yeah, it was back in Russia. | ||
| But when we moved to Peru, we started to compete in defensive shooting competition like IDPR, IPSC. Here I think it's called IPSC. It's very, I think it's excellent sport, like shooting style, when you are not only just in your position and shooting for the like accuracy, But also you are shooting in different position, moving, standing, laying down, sitting. | ||
| So it's like a circuit with different targets, different circuits, different goals, how you have to shoot. | ||
| And it's like everything combination about your speed and about your accuracy. | ||
| And also about if it's stuck some, like the gun is stuck at some point, you have to be able to resolve the issue and continue your shooting. | ||
| So it's very like amazing sport. | ||
| What teach you to respect what you are doing, to respect a gun, to respect everything, like considering about the safety and like whatever you have, but also teach you to To not have fear for a gun, but know how to use it for the sport. | ||
| I've talked to people that have shot with you, and they say that you shoot like you fight. | ||
| Who was that? | ||
| Someone who had trained with you. | ||
| I don't even remember the gentleman's name, but he watched you shoot in Texas. | ||
| And he said, when you see her fight, that's how she shoots. | ||
| And they said you're very high level. | ||
| I'm trying, I'm trying. | ||
| Of course, like, there is, like... | ||
| So high level competitors in the shooting because they are spending all their lives doing what they're doing and definitely it's like all these tricks about like everything about how they shoot and definitely for now I spend more time in martial arts definitely but I enjoy so much shooting because gun culture it's very strong culture and it's amazing because it's like it's a history it's a human history If you're like | ||
| watching a gun from what was made like back then, I have a rifle, Mosin rifle from 1935. Really? | ||
| Yes, it's like it was in the Spain war and yeah, it has a lot of history. | ||
| Bolt action? | ||
| Yes. | ||
| Is it good? | ||
| Is it accurate? | ||
| It's very precise. | ||
| Really? | ||
| Actually, you know, I don't know if you know, the last... | ||
| No, this summer, I was participating in the first ever Hunter Games organized from the six hour. | ||
| And so they made like two days competition. | ||
| It was five teams. | ||
| Yeah, five teams of three shooters. | ||
| So we were walking the circuit of how many miles? | ||
| So it was 8 hours to pass all the circuit. | ||
| It was 10 circuits. | ||
| In elevation it was 9000 elevation. | ||
| So it was hard competition. | ||
| So, for this competition, my gun was crossed, the rifle from Six Hour, and it's like the modern rifle with the scope. | ||
| Yeah, exactly. | ||
| You see how modern is it? | ||
| It's like Yeah. | ||
| So much technology. | ||
| But what I was preparing for this competition is my Mohsen rifle. | ||
| It's a bold action. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes. | |
| So precise. | ||
| So good. | ||
| 1935. Exactly. | ||
| Iron sights? | ||
| Oh, yes. | ||
| Yes. | ||
| It's kind of like nothing comparing to that. | ||
| Yeah. | ||
| When did they first develop scopes for rifles? | ||
| Hard to tell. | ||
| I would say maybe World War, something like that. | ||
| But what I was telling, it's about the history, the gun history. | ||
| It's like human history. | ||
| People who was creating that gun, they're not alive anymore, but we still have the opportunity. | ||
| Touch their creatures and feel the energy. | ||
| It's like sculptures, what we have in different cities. | ||
| For example, we see some in it. | ||
| You read the capture, the history. | ||
| It was made by this famous artist back, I don't know, 100 years ago. | ||
| The same with the guns. | ||
| It's a huge art history. | ||
| It's way much deeper than just a gun. | ||
| I have a friend who collects old guns, and he has flintlock guns. | ||
| So, like, with the flint and the ball and musket. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Oh, yeah. | |
| Black powder? | ||
| Yes, yeah. | ||
| The old-school muzzleloader. | ||
| Oh, my gosh. | ||
| It's wild. | ||
| It's like you think that that was what people went to war with. | ||
| You know, I have one. | ||
| Do you? | ||
| I do, but I never shot it because it's very hard to find the right ammunition for it and you have to be sure that it's the right one. | ||
| So I was trying to, I was asking like my friends, like everyone, but they advised me, Valentina, like keep it on the wall. | ||
| Yeah, it's an antique more than it is anything. | ||
| But it's so interesting to think that they used to use flint, an actual piece of stone, to strike against the base. | ||
| And that's how, yeah, it's crazy that that's how guns would fire and they would pull the trigger and then there was a delay. | ||
| Boom! | ||
| And then it would shoot. | ||
| Yeah. | ||
| I think it's the same with martial arts when it started like when it's like what's martial arts it was back then in what is now like modern arm. | ||
|
unidentified
|
There it is. | |
| Exactly. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Look at that. | |
| This is it. | ||
| Wow. | ||
| That's such a cool gun. | ||
| And what year is that gun from? | ||
| If I'm not mistaken, it's sometime 1800s. | ||
| Wow. | ||
| Yeah, keep that on the wall. | ||
| Yes, I know. | ||
| It is fascinating how much the technology has improved and changed. | ||
| I was hunting recently and most of the time I bow hunt, but we did some hunting for pigs and we used rifles. | ||
| And this rifle had an illuminated reticle. | ||
| Like you hit a button and it would show all the different ranges where the rifle, like where you would have to aim at 100, at 200, at 300, and it was all marked off. | ||
| I was like, this is incredible. | ||
| Like the technology. | ||
| Technology, exactly. | ||
| For example, this cross rifle from SIG, it has like a brake system of when it's the scope connected via Bluetooth with the binocle, and you can set your range, like seeing the target, you set it, it's connected, and the rifle know where to shoot. | ||
| It's safe, where to shoot. | ||
| Yeah, SIG has an amazing system, right? | ||
| Where their rangefinder connects with apps, their scopes connect with apps, and that all of this works together. | ||
| I have a few guns from SIG. I have a few of their pistols, and I have two ARs from them. | ||
| They make great stuff, but it's just so incredible how everything is like, when you start studying it and realizing that the ballistics are so accurate and precise that now They have these competitions where people are shooting out to 1,100, 1,200 yards and hitting small steel targets at 1,200 yards. | ||
| I mean, it's crazy. | ||
| I know. | ||
| This is a level. | ||
| Yeah. | ||
| Do you do any of that, long-range shooting? | ||
| For that competition, I was, like, spending more time training for the long. | ||
| And the longest what we have, it was 1,000. | ||
| 1,000. | ||
| Yes. | ||
| It's the longest what we had in the competition, yeah. | ||
| But... | ||
| I would say that I'm really looking forward to the next year when they're going to do the second games because it's a combination of shooting and to be in a good physical condition and it's like The best and you are in the nature. | ||
| It's like targets the same like in the shape of animal with the like steel lungs, the shape of the lungs and you have to hit the steel target. | ||
| And first you arrive to your stage. | ||
| You have to see where's the targets. | ||
| And you don't know how many are them before you get into any of the stages. | ||
| So it can be two or three different targets. | ||
| You have to find it. | ||
| Like in the real situation, hundreds of you have to spend some time. | ||
| Once you find it, you have to shoot. | ||
| You have three shots, and each shot gives you some points. | ||
| And then you shoot, you move to the next target, to the next target. | ||
| And it was kind of an amazing experience. | ||
| One, because of the competition itself. | ||
| And the second, because so many amazing people was combining together. | ||
| And so good spirit. | ||
| We slept under the sky in a tent. | ||
| So it's amazing. | ||
| Royce Gracie was there. | ||
| Yeah, Royce is big on shooting. | ||
| He's very good, too. | ||
| He's really dedicated to shooting. | ||
| We spoke with him and he's so amazing person. | ||
| He just got done training with my friend John Dudley in archery. | ||
| So now he's learning archery as well. | ||
| He just went through a whole comprehensive multiple day course one on one with my friend John. | ||
| Amazing. | ||
| I think it's like in everything, definitely when you have these people around you, it's so huge motivation. | ||
| Well, the gun culture and the gun community gets oftentimes disparaged, unfortunately, because it's not accurate. | ||
| Gun people and gun culture, they're some of the nicest people I've ever met in my life. | ||
| It's true. | ||
| They're very nice. | ||
| They're very respectful, and they're friendly, and they're welcoming to people that want to participate. | ||
| When I go to Taron Tactical when I'm in Los Angeles, there's always someone there that's like some world champion shooter that will give you advice and give you tips and help. | ||
| There's so much encouragement. | ||
| It's amazing. | ||
| This is what I say that the gun by itself, it's teach you about like respect, be kind, be noble, be like help to each other. | ||
| It's like, it's amazing. | ||
| It's like, it's just different. | ||
| And I would say that those people are like truly care about nature and truly care about Animals, because it sounds like they shoot animals, they hunt animals, but they care. | ||
| It's every time like funds, what they are creating, and every time it's like foundation and something like that. | ||
| And yeah, I was like, I have friends, hunters, and they are just like one of the best persons ever. | ||
| Yeah, they're some of the nicest people, and what you're saying is true. | ||
| They contribute more to conservation than any other group. | ||
| True. | ||
| In this country, there's not a single group that even comes close to the contributions to wildlife and conservation that hunters give. | ||
| Yes, this is fact. | ||
| All the money when hunters, because of the Pittman-Robertson Act, when hunters buy gear and ammunition and guns, I think it's 10%. | ||
| Find out what that is. | ||
| I think it's the Pittman-Robertson Act. | ||
| I believe it's 10%. | ||
| So I think what it is is 10% of all the money that comes from the sale of hunting gear goes towards conservation. | ||
| And I believe it's not just hunting gear. | ||
| I believe it's also the sale of recreational firearms. | ||
| That money goes towards wildlife protection, protection of habitat. | ||
| It goes to hire wildlife biologists who will We'll monitor the population, the species, to make sure they're healthy. | ||
| So it's kind of counterintuitive to people that don't understand the relationship and don't understand anybody in that. | ||
| What does it say here? | ||
|
unidentified
|
11%. | |
| Oh, 11%. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| So 11% excise tax on firearms and ammunition. | ||
| Instead of going to the U.S. Treasury, it is done as the pass. | ||
| The money generated by the tax Is instead given to the Secretary of the Interior to distribute to the states. | ||
| The Secretary determines how much to give to each state based on the formula that takes into account both the area of the state and the number of licensed hunters. | ||
| So it's pretty interesting. | ||
| Yeah. | ||
| And through this Pittman-Robertson Act, they've generated billions and billions of dollars that have all gone towards conservation. | ||
| Yeah. | ||
| People just have to know that, right? | ||
| Yeah. | ||
| Well, again, there's misconceptions. | ||
| There's misconceptions about gun culture in terms of recreational gun users. | ||
| People want to think that people that own guns are terrible people or bad people or just assholes or bullies or whatever, but it's not. | ||
| When you meet these people, There is a certain humility that comes with guns, because you realize anybody could just point that gun at you and kill you. | ||
| That is the ultimate balancing act. | ||
| If you want balance of power, it doesn't matter how big you are. | ||
| A 25-pound child who can squeeze a trigger can kill you. | ||
| It sounds terrible, and you don't want a 25-pound child to have a pistol, but if they had one, they could kill you. | ||
| This is about, like, I think about this education, right? | ||
| I would love to see more programs starting, like, in the school, educate, like, everyone to, how to respect the arms, the safety, and instead of, like, prohibit, like, everything, just teach people, explain people, like, then they have choice what they, like, are Or they want to do that or they don't. | ||
| But how they will know the truth if they don't know and everyone, like, try to hide. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes. | |
| Well, I feel that way about martial arts as well. | ||
| I think that if, you know, there's all these discussions about how to decrease bullying in school. | ||
| And I think the best option is to teach children how to fight. | ||
| Teach children martial arts. | ||
| First of all, they won't want to bully anybody. | ||
| It's not skilled martial arts for the most part. | ||
| There are some exceptions. | ||
| But for the most part, it's not the skilled, trained martial arts that are the bullies. | ||
| It's people that are insecure and the people that really don't know how to fight. | ||
| That's why the best advice about bullies is always to stand up to them. | ||
| But if you just taught them martial arts, they wouldn't want to be bullies. | ||
| Again, it seems counterintuitive, but I think that really is the correct response, the correct strategies probably to distribute martial arts throughout schools. | ||
| I think we'd have healthier kids. | ||
| I think so, too, because kids, they have so much energy. | ||
| They have to spend this energy. | ||
| And what is the better place to spend it as a gym, right? | ||
| To spend in doing something useful for your life, for whatever. | ||
| Not only self-defense, but in general sports, it's good. | ||
| And it's kind of like definitely a child has to move. | ||
| Has to do a lot of things, has to practice here, there, because they have so much energy, they have to spend it. | ||
| And yeah, it's kind of like the only one thing, teach them, explain them, and like make them experience instead of like, I don't know, if... | ||
| Every time there is some fight in the school, right? | ||
| And like, instead of like do something like to prohibit, put them in the class, put gloves on them. | ||
| They would fight each other like a training class and something like that. | ||
| And then they will feel good and friends. | ||
| Better friends than fighting on the street or something like that. | ||
| Because I noticed that, for example, in my trainings, when we do hard sparring with some other training partners, And it makes us better connected to each other, better friends, because we experience the same. | ||
| Yes, we hit each other. | ||
| Yes, we hit with the full power, but we have so much respect to each other. | ||
| It's just different level, different. | ||
| What do you think about this debate about sparring? | ||
| Because there are some people, including very high-level fighters, that don't spar anymore. | ||
| They get to a certain point in their career, like Max Holloway for an example, and you could say, you know, there's a lot of debate about this, but where there's no debate is how good Max Holloway looks. | ||
| So to me it's so perplexing, because I think It's undeniable that there's a certain amount of timing and fluidity that's generated from sparring. | ||
| But it's also undeniable that sometimes people spar too hard and that you lose some of your resiliency and you're taking away some of the future of your career from these hard sparring sessions. | ||
| So what are your thoughts on hard sparring? | ||
| Do you think Max is saying the truth? | ||
| That he's not sparring? | ||
| You never know, right? | ||
| You never know. | ||
| Yeah, you never know. | ||
| I don't think he's lying. | ||
|
unidentified
|
But he might be. | |
| He's tricky. | ||
| Tricky, Max. | ||
| No, I think he's telling the truth. | ||
| I really do. | ||
| But you know what I feel about sparring? | ||
| Sparring is necessary. | ||
| If you want to prepare yourself for the fight, you have to feel your opponent. | ||
| Timing and, like, one thing when you hit pads, different when you hit someone and someone hit you back. | ||
| But sometimes people, they have a wrong approach to sparrings. | ||
| Sometimes they want, like mostly young people not having much experience, they want to show that they're brave, that they are not afraid to receive this hit or something like that. | ||
| They said, why I have to put helmet? | ||
| What? | ||
| I'm professional. | ||
| I'm a super fighter. | ||
| I don't put a helmet. | ||
| And definitely when you absorb strong Strike, like jab or whatever, you're going to feel it. | ||
| You're going to feel it. | ||
| And if it's before the fight, training camp, you have to have sparrings, a lot of sparrings. | ||
| And less protection you have, more damage you have. | ||
| So it's my concept. | ||
| You have to protect yourself. | ||
| First, helmets, shin pads, elbow pads, knee pads, everything. | ||
| You have to have everything. | ||
| So it's kind of your people that if they have damage, like everyday damage, damage, and no protection, this is what affected them. | ||
| In the fight. | ||
| Because they're coming to the fight already, like, with a lot of... | ||
| Right. | ||
| Yeah. | ||
| But if you are protected, you still can, like, big gloves, for example, you have. | ||
| Definitely you won't spar with a small glass with full power. | ||
| You don't want to do that. | ||
| But if you have, like, big gloves, helmet, and everything, it's kind of you have certain type of protection. | ||
| It's definitely not protecting you a lot. | ||
| But it helps you to be healthier and stronger with less damage for the fight itself. | ||
| So when you spar, are you sparring with boxing gloves on? | ||
| Depends. | ||
| Depends. | ||
| Usually like if it's, most likely if it's five round fight and we need this spar, it's gonna be big gloves. | ||
| Definitely it will affect grappling. | ||
| Definitely. | ||
| But you have to choose. | ||
| Yeah. | ||
| And when you spar, are you sparring full blast? | ||
| 100% power? | ||
| Oh, yes. | ||
| Oh, yes. | ||
| Because to get ready for something and know how it's gonna look, you have to do it in full. | ||
| It's like, for example, rehearsal for the movie. | ||
| You can do it like 50%, but you have to have it 100% like few times just to know what you're gonna do. | ||
| And this is the same. | ||
| Even, for example, I... It's not happening here because we got our uniform right before the fight. | ||
| But before, when I fighted in Muay Thai in different competitions, it was necessary to have one or two trainings in the same uniform, the same gear that I would use for my fight in the competition. | ||
| So you would have training sessions with no shin pads, smaller gloves? | ||
| No, I want to say more about shorts or like top or something like that. | ||
| You have to make sure that it's going to be comfortable because it's like small detail but it can bring a whole difference. | ||
| I will not do never. | ||
| Full power sparring, no shin guard, small gloves. | ||
| Never. | ||
| We force a fight. | ||
| Only force a fight. | ||
| Yeah, that makes sense. | ||
| The ties, when they spar, they spend a lot of time... | ||
| They play spar, where they touch each other. | ||
| They're tapping because they fight so often that they're prepared for fighting because they're fighting on a regular basis, sometimes once a week or once every two weeks. | ||
| But when they spar, they spar very lightly. | ||
| What are your thoughts on that sort of play sparring? | ||
| Like if you watch Sanchai, for example, he's one of the best ever. | ||
| And when he spars, he's very light and it's a lot of movement and playful. | ||
| You know, it's very different. | ||
| For example, we have to consider all circumstances. | ||
| For example, if you're speaking about ties, what they're doing. | ||
| They are, for example, fighting each week. | ||
| They have competition. | ||
| They even, like, can do shadow boxing between their competition. | ||
| It wouldn't affect their performances. | ||
| Because competition by itself is a gift to a lot. | ||
| And if you compete frequently, definitely you don't have to spend too much time in the training to prepare your body for the fight. | ||
| You can spend less time because fight is already going to put you on the next level. | ||
| And definitely, I think Sanchai, he has days when he has to spar in full. | ||
| He has days when he can do it light, but definitely he spars in full as well. | ||
| So you think that the play sparring is basically just a result of the fact that they fight so often? | ||
| Most likely, yeah. | ||
| To prepare so you don't have to hurt yourself in training. | ||
| Yes. | ||
| It doesn't make any sense to hurt yourself in the fight, then do it again in the training, then again in the fight. | ||
| No, it's like what's the ultimate goal to be healthier for your fight? | ||
| That's why you have to find the way how it's going to work the best way. | ||
| The Thais also do a lot of running. | ||
| I know. | ||
| Do you run when you're in Thailand, when you're training there? | ||
|
unidentified
|
No. | |
| You don't? | ||
| No. | ||
| Really? | ||
| No. | ||
| I never run. | ||
| I just don't like to run. | ||
| For example, we have a glass. | ||
| This is our energy, for example. | ||
| We can fool it with full of energy or like our training session is this time. | ||
| We can fool it with half of running and half of doing things that are going to help for the fight. | ||
| Or we can fool it with full time that's going to help us for the fight. | ||
| Running is good, but when it's not enough... | ||
| Like your technique or something that would help you in the fight. | ||
| It's like not make sense. | ||
| But if you do like strong training and running like before the training, you come to the training already tired. | ||
| And you don't have this energy to do your main thing. | ||
| To do what you have to do in the training. | ||
| To perform your best in the training for your fight. | ||
| Because you spend your own energy already running. | ||
| So it's like wasting your energy. | ||
| This is my thought. | ||
| The argument against that is that what you're doing in the strength and conditioning is building your reservoir of energy. | ||
| So you're making it much bigger because instead of concentrating on the technique, you're only concentrating on the physical performance of your cardiovascular system. | ||
| You're only concentrating on your VO2 max. | ||
| You're only concentrating on explosive energy and power. | ||
| And then in building that, you strengthen the machine that you used to fight with. | ||
| Yes, but if you do the same with your training partner, it will work double because machine, it doesn't respond you. | ||
| It's like you used to do the certain exercise, the weight what you are doing with the machine, but when you are in the fight, The machine starts to work differently because it's attacking you as well. | ||
| And you have to now work differently. | ||
| This is what I want to tell you. | ||
| You are not focusing on the technique when you are training with a training partner. | ||
| You are focusing on both, your resistance and technique. | ||
| So it's different. | ||
| It's harder. | ||
| Yes, I know it's harder. | ||
| It's very hard because you have to be perfect in your technique and also have enough resistance, endurance for keep going. | ||
| This is what I want to say. | ||
| I don't want to force anyone. | ||
| It's just the way what is work for me. | ||
| Well, obviously, it's working very well for you. | ||
| So it's interesting. | ||
| Well, there's other people that had similar strategies like George St. Pierre told me he didn't really. | ||
| I mean, I think he varied. | ||
| He changed things up at some important time in his career. | ||
| And he did have different approaches as time went on. | ||
| But at one point in time, he said, I don't do any strength and conditioning. | ||
| He goes, I concentrate on efficiency, and I concentrate on my technique, and I concentrate on fight training. | ||
| And he had the same philosophy that time spent doing other things would detract from his ability to improve his efficiency and improve his overall technique. | ||
| And more I want to add, like, all injuries, they are coming mostly from training. | ||
| When you are in the training, and when you are, like, already so tired to defend something, and you're just like, okay, whatever, I will fall down, and you fall down bad, right? | ||
| And this is what this energy comes from. | ||
| So if you are doing, like, you spend half of energy of running, then already you don't have this Defense level, protection level against injuries. | ||
| So it's kind of like another point of view. | ||
| When you train in Thailand, they give you a hard time about not running? | ||
| No, no. | ||
| You know, it's never was something like... | ||
| I wasn't at any time training in Thailand on the regular basis. | ||
| And since the beginning, it was... | ||
| I have my coach and he's the one who is like saying what I have to do. | ||
| And what I don't have to do. | ||
| Pavel, he was every time, like, looking for me, for his students, for Antonina, to do the right things. | ||
| Because, like, he spent so much energy in us. | ||
| He put so much, like, everything was, like, creating the fighters, right? | ||
| And then to have someone... | ||
| Messed up and destroyed. | ||
| No, he has to see and control, to have control of how the training process is going. | ||
| And for example, now our trainings in Tiger Muay Thai, it's what we are doing. | ||
| We have the same group. | ||
| We have people from all around the world, some Thai fighters, some fighters who are in that time in Tiger Muay Thai. | ||
| And we do like separate training. | ||
| We have our schedule and certain time what we are training and we do our style training. | ||
| Now when it comes to things like endurance, do you monitor your heart rate? | ||
| Do you check your heart rate in the morning? | ||
| You're smiling at me! | ||
| I don't do that! | ||
| I don't do that. | ||
| I don't check my heart rate. | ||
| I don't use gadgets. | ||
| I don't even like... | ||
| I don't do that. | ||
| And I know there is a lot of apps that are very helpful. | ||
| They just help to know how you feel. | ||
| But my indicator is myself. | ||
| My indicator, if I feel good, this is the most important indicator. | ||
| If I feel that, for example, I don't have endurance during the training, it means that my diet is not good. | ||
| It means something like I have to change in my diet, most likely. | ||
| So my indicator is myself. | ||
| So I don't believe in gadgets. | ||
| They're going to help me in the fight. | ||
| I believe in myself. | ||
| Only there is one person who's going to help me. | ||
| So, no heart rate monitors. | ||
| No. | ||
| No VO2 max tests, none of that. | ||
| Do you monitor your progress when it comes to training camp entirely based on how you feel then? | ||
| Entirely. | ||
| You don't write anything down? | ||
| Do you keep a journal of your training sessions or anything? | ||
| I was doing it like... | ||
| Years ago. | ||
| Like most likely, not training session, but like diet, yeah? | ||
| For example, my weight in the morning like that, and this is what I was eating like that. | ||
| After training, I felt this, that, that. | ||
| I did it like part of my time, but right now, no. | ||
| Right now it's like I know exactly how I have to feel and every time I'm sharing my feelings with my team and we are saying, okay, this is right, this is not right, this is okay to feel that during this period of training camp and this is what we have to do to maintain it or something like that. | ||
| Yes, now it's all about Sense, right? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Your intuition, how you feel. | |
| Do you have a nutritionist that you work with? | ||
| I know you're at the UFC PI, so do you work with their nutritionist? | ||
| Or how do you decide what you eat? | ||
| How I decide what I eat? | ||
| The team of UC Performance Institute, they are so incredible. | ||
| And for example, for like Fight Week, Charles, Nicole and like Clint, they are like working so good to build your like meals and working like excellent. | ||
| I cannot complain because it's amazing what Fighter can have someone to worry about their food and you don't have to think about anything. | ||
| It's already just eat. | ||
| But the rest of the time, I'm just monitoring my food myself. | ||
| I know the diet, what has worked for me. | ||
| I know exactly what things I have to eat, how to maintain my weight, or I don't have to eat. | ||
| But I'm not that strict on the diet when I... Out of the fight, out of the competition, I can eat anything. | ||
| And it's the same, the balance and my intuition. | ||
| When my body starts to feel heavy and I feel, okay, this is too much water in me, I just put on the suit and go to run. | ||
| A sauna suit? | ||
| Yes. | ||
| Now, do you, like, what is your diet like? | ||
| If you say you know what works for you, like, what is a general... | ||
| For the fight? | ||
| Yeah. | ||
| No, just, like, general training. | ||
| Like, general, like, what is your diet like? | ||
| What do you eat most? | ||
| Um... | ||
| A lot of cakes. | ||
| Chocolate cakes. | ||
| There's a lot of creams on top. | ||
| Are you kidding? | ||
| No. | ||
| Really? | ||
| I just like sweets, yes. | ||
|
unidentified
|
You eat cake? | |
| I do. | ||
| Really? | ||
| Yes. | ||
| So if someone asked me, do you think that Valentina Shevchenko eats sugar, I'd be like, no, no way. | ||
| Oh, yes. | ||
| A lot. | ||
| If you would ask people who know me, they'd say, oh my god, she's all about sugar. | ||
| You're all about sugar. | ||
| But is it because you train so hard, your body needs that glucose and you can get away with it? | ||
| Is this like an after-training thing, or is it just you just love cake? | ||
| I just love them. | ||
| I like the taste. | ||
| But what about nutrition? | ||
| Do you have staples in your diet in terms of meat and vegetables? | ||
| What is your diet normally like? | ||
| The only thing that I keep like a rule, and I can break it sometimes if it's some party or some like situation, it's I'm not eating after 5pm. | ||
| So this is the most important. | ||
| If I know that after 5pm I just stop, I can drink some tea, like water, but no sugar. | ||
| And it's going to be balanced. | ||
| So this is the most important rule. | ||
| And definitely when I feel it's okay, it's too much sugar, I go and eat salad. | ||
| Too much cake. | ||
| So 5 p.m. | ||
| and then when would generally your morning workout be? | ||
| Sometimes it's early 7, sometimes it's 8, but we train in the morning, and I like to train in the morning. | ||
| I don't like to train past 10, so it's going to be sometime between 7 and late. | ||
| So even if it's 7, you're still generally getting about 14 hours of intermittent fasting. | ||
| But before the training, I don't eat. | ||
| No training? | ||
|
unidentified
|
No. | |
| Wow, so you eat at 5 p.m. | ||
| as you're done. | ||
| And then after training. | ||
| And then you wait and then train for hours? | ||
| Yeah. | ||
| Wow, that's interesting. | ||
| No fruit, no nothing? | ||
| I can take a shake, for example, meal replacement, something like that. | ||
| And lately I very like these greens, protein, and collagen. | ||
| I mix that and I can have that just a small amount before the training, but that's it. | ||
| I don't like to feel full before the training. | ||
| It affects my endurance. | ||
| But that's crazy that you go that long and then train really hard for multiple hours. | ||
| Yes, but it depends on how much you ate before five. | ||
| How much? | ||
| Not that big. | ||
| Not that big. | ||
| Now, when you're training, are you taking any sort of glucose supplement while you're training? | ||
| Like, are you drinking Gatorade? | ||
| While training, no. | ||
| No, just water? | ||
| No, I don't drink during the training. | ||
| You don't drink any water? | ||
| No. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Really? | |
| Yes. | ||
| So for hours? | ||
| You're training for hours, no water? | ||
| Yes. | ||
| Yeah, no water. | ||
| Wow. | ||
| Yep. | ||
| It's, I don't know, it's in Soviet system, it was, since all boxing, all wrestlers, they had the same, like, no drinking, because it's kind of like, you know, I feel... | ||
| When you drink, your liver and your heart start to work more. | ||
| And it's like after five minutes after you drink, you feel like more tired than it was before. | ||
| So I just like that. | ||
| I don't drink. | ||
| Even just a little bit of water? | ||
| Just a sip? | ||
| Nothing? | ||
| No, no. | ||
| Because I don't feel that I... I used to... | ||
| All my life, I didn't drink. | ||
| And that I just used to it. | ||
| So all my life, it was like during the training, no drinks, no water. | ||
| And this is, I feel good. | ||
| I feel comfortable. | ||
| So I don't need that. | ||
| Wow, that's incredible. | ||
| What about alcohol? | ||
| I don't drink. | ||
| Nothing? | ||
| I don't drink, but I'm not against it. | ||
| I'm not a person who's judging people for drinking or something like that. | ||
| No. | ||
| I think it's the same culture of drinks and more my family. | ||
| My grandfather, he was doing homemade wine. | ||
| And now my mom, she's continuing his tradition, and she's every time sending a picture of making her own wine. | ||
| Oh, wow. | ||
| Yeah. | ||
| But you don't touch it. | ||
| No, I don't. | ||
| No. | ||
| I don't feel. | ||
| Do you think when you're done competing, maybe? | ||
| It's different. | ||
| Yes, maybe. | ||
| Maybe someday? | ||
| I'm doing my theory now. | ||
| All right. | ||
| What about vitamins and supplements and things along those lines? | ||
| Training camp. | ||
| Yeah, training camp? | ||
| Only during training camp? | ||
| Only training camp. | ||
| How long is your training camp generally? | ||
| Two months probably, yeah. | ||
| So for those eight weeks, you'll take in vitamins and supplements. | ||
| What kind of vitamins do you take? | ||
| So I have UC Performance Institute, nutrition specialist. | ||
| Oh, so they set everything up for you? | ||
| Yes. | ||
| It's amazing because they are taking care of everything. | ||
| That's very convenient. | ||
| And so that's generally the reason why you moved to Las Vegas to have access to the Performance Institute. | ||
| Actually, it was not the main reason. | ||
| I just love Nevada. | ||
| I love Las Vegas. | ||
| I like the climate. | ||
| Yes, definitely it's kind of hot in the summertime. | ||
| It's only a few months. | ||
| It's only a few months. | ||
| If we are speaking about what the weather is right now, it's just perfect. | ||
| I like the quality of air and everything. | ||
| I never thought that I will be so in love with the desert nature. | ||
| I grew up in Kyrgyzstan. | ||
| We have four seasons. | ||
| We have gorgeous summer, super cold winter, like spring. | ||
| It's something like so beautiful, like so many greens, so many trees, so many everything colors. | ||
| And I never thought that I gonna miss so much desert. | ||
| And I knew it. | ||
| We had last summer, our U.S. trip, and we usually, like, when COVID things, all of this starts, and we start to explore United States, like, so deep and, like, just traveling. | ||
| We just take our car, our truck, and for two, two and a half months, we're just driving around. | ||
| And it's our trip. | ||
| It's different. | ||
| We are not going, like, from destination to destination. | ||
| For example, our navigator saying like, okay, you have two hours drive. | ||
| But in reality, it will take like six, seven hours because we are just driving small roads, stopping in every little town. | ||
| And like if there is like by the coast marinas and something like that. | ||
| And last summer we traveled, we started from Las Vegas, then we went to Lake Tahoe, then San Francisco, and drew all Highway 1, Pacific Coast, all the way up. | ||
| And then Seattle, Washington, and all the area by the border with Canada. | ||
| So it was an amazing trip, two and a half months. | ||
| And then when we were on our way back and we started to drive closer to Nevada, closer to that nature, desert nature, I was like, oh my god, it feels like coming back home. | ||
| You're accustomed to it now. | ||
| It's amazing how much outside activity, outdoor activities you can also do in the Las Vegas area. | ||
| I've had Alex Honnold on the podcast before. | ||
| Do you know who he is? | ||
| The free solo climber. | ||
| And he was telling me there's a lot of climbers that move to Las Vegas just because they have access to so many climbing routes. | ||
| Oh my god, yeah. | ||
| And yeah, it's so many activities like... | ||
| Hiking trails. | ||
| Shooting. | ||
| Yeah, a lot of shooting, right? | ||
| Skydiving. | ||
| Do you skydive too? | ||
| I did indoor, indoor skydiving. | ||
| Oh, that's a lot safer. | ||
| It's different, yeah. | ||
| But it's better to start with something, right? | ||
| Yeah, and also you don't fall as far. | ||
| I know. | ||
| Yeah, you're just kind of floating around. | ||
| And you have your protections. | ||
| Much, much, much better. | ||
| Well, listen, Valentina, it's been a pleasure to talk to you. | ||
| I really appreciate you coming in here. | ||
| I've admired your work inside the Octagon, and I really appreciate your style and your technique and your ability. | ||
| It's beautiful to watch. | ||
| So I'm a big fan. | ||
| So for me, this was a real treat. | ||
| Thank you so much, Joe. | ||
| It's my pleasure. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you very much. | |
| I can't wait to see you in there again. | ||
| Me too. | ||
| Hopefully next time I will talk to you, they will say, and still. | ||
| I will work on it hard. | ||
| I'm sure you will. | ||
| I have no doubts. | ||
| So thank you very much. | ||
| Thank you. |
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