Nog een laatste interview met Fedor Emelianenko:
The below is a translation of an interview with FEDOR which appears in the current issued of SPORTS NUMBER; Japan's equivalent to Sports Illustrated:-
The fresh green leaves of silver birches are dazzling and the daytime temperature reaches almost 25¡É, it is early summer here in Stari Oskol. I visited Emilianenko Fedor who still continues to work on training at his hometown even after having transferred to Red Devil which is based in Saint-Petersburg.
He was waiting in front of the gym in the town -it is more like apartment complex in Japan. Homemakers or children going on a shopping know who this guy is, however keep walking and pass him innocently. He perfectly matches with this town and as usual, there was a mild smile on his face.
He is certainly the strongest on the ring. The Emperor, Ice¡¦all the words that express him represent and fit his strength. The huge gap between his strength and smile is his charm, but also hard to understand.
Coach Voronov has been training Fedor since his early childhood, and is one of the people who know Fedor very well. When the coach met him, he was just a physically weak 10 years old boy as Fedor says. Children who were much superior in Judo, Sambo, etc, always made fools of him. Though this boy was feeling an inferiority complex, he had a special quality that cannot be substituted by anything.
¡°He was not gifted with a talent, but was a tough kid. Even now, that is his greatest talent. He had been getting over many barriers with the strength gifted by God.¡±
The boy grew up with single-mindedness and became a sturdy young man keeping a confidence inside.
The Champion was training very hard especially on boxing 3 weeks before the second match of PRIDE. Michkov who was invited here to help Fedor with the boxing, that is one of his few weak points, explained to us.
¡°We concentrate on practicing the straight strike with some variations, and also do short ranged hooks, uppers. We do Boxing and Sambo equally. He still lacks little bit in boxing skills.¡±
I faced Fedor who showed his familiar smile after the first training out of three trainings per day.
----- How can you be so calm? I always have this feeling every time I watch your game.
Fedor, ¡°I try to remove my emotion before entering the ring. I gained this technique through practice.¡±
----- I see, no feelings¡¦ I guess everyone has a hard time doing this.
Fedor, ¡°However, on the other hand, some fighters might deliberately excite themselves. My method is the best for me. If I lose calmness, I cannot have my power play in full. Though having no academic degrees, I learned how to control the emotion by myself as if a psychologist. I learned a lot from coaches¡¯ fighting experiences.
----- I think your expressionless face brought by calmness is one of your fascination as a pro-fighter.
Fedor, ¡°Since my fans know this, I cannot change it now. Well, I don¡¯t want to be like Bob Sapp.¡±
----- I heard that the reason you showed groundwork technique at the first game of GP, is because you didn¡¯t want to strike Mark Coleman. Is that true?
Fedor, ¡°I respect him. I became a good friend of him through PRIDE. As a matter of fact, I tried not to hit him. He gave me a chance, so consequently I could win by twisting his joints.
----- We, Japanese fans were extremely surprised that you could do everything!
Fedor, ¡°Thank you. I want to show you what I can do more to satisfy fans.¡±
----- It is known well that you have roots in Sambo and Judo. Didn¡¯t you feel uncomfortable with MMA when you have been transferred?
Fedor, ¡°I could cope well with that by practicing according to rules. I started combat sambo at the same time I participated in Rings, so it might work well.
----- You haven¡¯t showed even a half of your potential, have you? I know you can do a lot more, can¡¯t you?
Fedor, ¡°During the match, I have to decide which technique should be used in each instance. There are techniques that I haven¡¯t showed yet, however, I may have a chance to show them in due course..
----- I assume that you plan game strategies before games. Which do you give a priority to, your strategies or decision you made at each time during a game?
Fedor, ¡° Basically, I follow what my coach and I have planned, but sometimes I modify this once in the ring. I am the one to make such decision, and also to judge what is the best for each situation from time to time.
-----You can do that because you are superior in basic technique. However, you only don¡¯t have chance to show those, right? You are not hesitant to show your techniques, for instance as Rickson Gracey is, are you?
Fedor, ¡°No, I don¡¯t mean to do that, but I prefer tactic of punching at ground to anything else since that is the most effective method in order to win.
----- I assume that your enemies will try to attack you at upper position. Do you have provision/plan for that?
Fedor, ¡°In that situation, it is better to attack from the lower position. Depending on a situation, I might punch from the lower position.
----- Punching from the lower position¡¦I cannot imagine, though. Is that one of the techniques of sambo?
Fedor, ¡°No, that is my personal strategy. I haven¡¯t completely mastered yet, however, I would like to show that in the match.¡±
----- Coach Voronov said that you have just reached 50% of your target compared to what he thinks is your ideal goal. What do you yourself think about this?
Fedor, ¡°(Slightly smiled.) I always trust what my coach says.¡±
Fedor is always faithful to lessons given to him. Voronov pointed out the same thing, also. This imlpies his potential to be a universal fighter, which the coach aims at, the fighter who can manage to use appropriate techniques perfectly and automatically on situation to situation. The goal of Fedor as a fighter is that he becomes to ¡°manage techniques automatically without any emotion¡±; as if he is a fighting machine.
Just before we part, I asked Fedor if he is aware of his strengths.
¡°Certainly, I am. However, I don¡¯t regard that I am mentally strong compared to other people¡±, said Fedor.
And he added.
¡°My hope is to live in the society normally without sticking out.¡±
Conceivably, people in Stari Oskol already noticed your feeling.
When we said good-bye to him, he rode a Lada, the Russian car, and went back home where his family was waiting.
Wat een gast hé. Super super ster in Japan en thuis in Rusland toert ie rond in z'n lada
