It’s funny to me how the Muslim Russian fighters get shitted on here, when they’re nothing but respectful (other than Khamzat lol) yet the non Muslim Russian fighters get no hate at all. In fact fedor is worshiped as a God here
Excellent attitude from Aliskerov. Their strong faith helps them cope with problems.
Odd behaviour from Sergei. He gave me an impression of one of them Russian men’s man. As someone wrote in the PBP thread, the realisation that he hit his career ceiling probably hit him hard. So, Aliskerov was in a better position mentally.
Losing the first fight back from losing a championship fight must be the hardest, because they were so close to winning the belt; within reach, they are still focused on the belt holder, want to get right back to it, but someone comes from behind them, and sets them back further.
They went through this extensively before and after the fight. These were two Russian fighters that used to train together. They used to travel to train together for camps in support of each other. Sergei was upset that Volkov signed to fight first. Volkov said he was told Sergei would sign if Volkov signed. Volkov said this was always a bad matchup for Sergei and his camp did a bad job even entertaining this fight. Weird dynamics here but I think Sergei felt betrayed by a friend… which funny enough Volkov said they were friends and Sergei said they werent.