It’s great that the fight will take place in Moscow. St. Petersburg is a wonderful city as well, of course, but Moscow is the capital of not only Russia, but also of all the biggest events. Therefore, it's always a great honor to fight at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.
I do not see any differences from the last time when the fight did not happen. We came to the fight, I even started cutting weight, so that I experienced the entire process except for the match itself. Thus, there will be no changes or amendments concerning my motivation, training, and other issues. It’s just the same bout only a few months later. I've known Albert for a long time, known his skills and the way he fights, so there is no need to reinvent the wheel. I'm just going to follow the program devised three months ago.
The only difference is that a month and a half before the fight I will compete at the championship of Russia in Combat Sambo. Combat Sambo is not MMA, but it’s the closest sport to it. A national championship traditionally brings together all the "cream" of the MMA world. Therefore, this rehearsal will come in very handy, and will be one of the most important moments in my preparation.
Of course, the fact that I wasn’t able to fight at the ACB 50 had some negative impact. I was in great shape and my mindset for the fight was also okay, but it all fell through just a couple of days before the event. However, it was three months ago, and now I’m not even thinking about it. We were given enough time to train for a fight again. It was an opportunity to think things through, to understand and get ready once more. So no matter how the fight ends, they can be no excuses. Everybody was ready, everybody was warned, and there was a lot of time to prepare. We are on an equal footing, and it all depends on us only.
I’ve heard that Albert appealed to the ACB management with a request to make our fight a title one. However, I do not agree with him about it. And when I’ve just signed up with the ACB, I said I wanted to first have one bout, and only then think about the title. And now I'm not going back on my word. Winning the title is of course in my plans, but first I want a debut fight against Albert.
