Yan spent his teens boxing like Conor.
To my knowledge they are the only two UFC champs who had a boxing base. Is that right?
I know a couple fighters are like Eddie Alvarez and Vitor and had a boxing and wrestling or BJJ base but when you look at UFC champs with a single base before the MMA transition, I think Yan is only the second UFC champ to have a boxing base.
My boy Art Jimmy would’ve been the first if Royce stood and banged it out like a real fighterÂ
Cody
fatfrenchfry -Cody
Nope, he wrestled and boxed.
I'm talking about single base guys.
BJ Penn Forever -fatfrenchfry -Cody
Nope, he wrestled and boxed.
I'm talking about single base guys.
Yan wrestled n did other shit to as a kid. Likely as much as Cody. Yan talked about it in prefight stuff... so not sure why you’re not counting his other stuff but u count codys etc...  it’s like your trying to make him got into a category just for your thread lolÂ
Dugs95 -BJ Penn Forever -fatfrenchfry -Cody
Nope, he wrestled and boxed.
I'm talking about single base guys.
Yan wrestled n did other shit to as a kid. Likely as much as Cody. Yan talked about it in prefight stuff... so not sure why you’re not counting his other stuff but u count codys etc...  it’s like your trying to make him got into a category just for your thread lolÂ
Do you have a source for that?
Going off an interview of his that touch posted and wiki as well... only his boxing was mentioned. In the interview Yan said that he tried to pick up some wrestling off youtube after becoming interesting in MMA right before he had his 2013 fight. All I've seen mentioned of him as a kid is boxing.
I'd love to see your source.
Here is the interview touch posted, you know, unless its a fake I created because I'm trying to make him got into a category just for my thread lol.
"None of this would have happened if not for the older brother. The difference is four years.
I watched him return home from a boxing training, knocked down and tortured, and somehow envied. I really wanted to be challenged too. For some reason, my brother did not want me to go with him. I had to act cunningly. Once I spied what things he was packing up, took the same in a bag, waited until he left the apartment, and after five minutes imperceptibly went after him.
I got to my brother’s coach - Nikolai Nikolaevich Surzhikov. It was a small basement room. After the first training, I barely stumbled from home to there. And two weeks later I already performed at the first competitions. And I won.
Then I was 12 years old, sixth grade. Shortly before that, we moved from a village in the Krasnoyarsk Territory to the city of Dudinka. If anyone does not know, this is the Far North - 45 days of polar night and four months with a positive temperature in the year. But the main thing is that everything was there. Both shops, and the airport a hundred kilometers away, and gyms - in the village I could not do any kind, but here I chose.
My friend’s mom worked as a concierge in an acrobatic gym. At six in the morning she opened it, so we jumped in front of the school on all kinds of trampolines. Then I went to another training session - there were football, and taekwondo, and even weightlifting. I studied in the second shift, so I managed to do everything. Immediately after school I was still driving to boxing. Then, being a murdered man, I was returning home.
At school, I fought at every turn, but I was never the instigator. I was in “B”, and the guys from “A” said that we had only morons. And either there were fights because of such moments, or when I stood up for the weak. I am from the village, I could not endure injustice.
Over time, everyone somehow became friends.
In Dudinka, I wanted to finish nine and go to college. Did not see a big goal in sports. But Nikolai Nikolaevich insisted that I try and fly to Omsk. Knew: if I stay in the North, there will be no progress. For you need a city. We need halls and competition.
Surzhikov through one guy, Kostya Maykov (he rests with the kingdom, he himself was from the north and moved to Omsk), talked with coach Yuri Vladimirovich Demchenko. Mom bought me a ticket and said: “Try it. And for a return ticket, if anything, we will find the money. ”
I went.
At the station I was met by Yuri Vladimirovich.
Can you imagine? 15 years. One. Million Population City. I actually arrived from a village, a small town. No relatives, nothing.
I had to go to the school of the Olympic reserve. But did not make it. The draft is already finished. There are two further options: either fly back or stay in the hostel.
I was assigned to a sports - and so I graduated from high school in Omsk. Two years I was not at home, then flew to Dudinka, looked and realized: we must return to Omsk. The city is small, and boxing results have already begun to appear in Omsk. I entered the gymnastics institute, studied.
My mother mostly helped me with money. I trained hard, but I also had to earn a little bit somewhere.
Then in Omsk there was a nightclub Atlantis. It was considered prestigious. Every Tuesday there were fights. We quickly put the ring, we fought, the ring was immediately removed - and the disco began in the same place. For a professional fight they paid 4 thousand rubles. So I spent 6-7 kickboxing fights. It happened that I performed there at night - against the current Thai boxing fighters, kick boxers, prize-winners of the world championships - and already in the morning I had the weigh-in for the district boxing championship. I came there with my legs off, so I asked the coach to put me in the draw a day later. To at least lie down a bit. So for four years in a row this championship was won by me.
I was not annoyed by the atmosphere of a nightclub that everyone around was boozing. Somehow I did not pay attention. There was another task at that time: to go out, win and earn your pennies. I myself always tried to adhere to a healthy life - I did not smoke, did not drink, and practiced. I could only dance after midnight after the fight, but even if I didn’t sleep, I was in the gym during the day. Such self-discipline brought me to where I am now.
I got into the wave of popularity of mixed martial arts on time. Both ambitions and a desire to try something else have already been poked: for 7 years boxing has become a bit boring, I have not had outstanding results, I have not won Russia. And in MMA, federations began to appear in each region, and held district championships.
I made my debut in Irkutsk in 2013, learning about the fight 10 days before the tournament. I studied the wrestling on YouTube, but in general the instinct was there - thanks to street fights.
The first fight was won by knockout in an additional round - they gave 20 thousand rubles. Paid for a rented apartment - then I lived with my wife. Then the fight in Omsk, the contract with ACB, the championship there - and the signature in the agreement with the UFC in 2018.
Now I have a fight ahead for the UFC champion belt. What I could not even think about before. I didn’t even dare to imagine. It’s nice to know that I’ve recently fought in Omsk clubs, and now I’ll fight with a legend on “Fight Island”.
Dugs95 -BJ Penn Forever -fatfrenchfry -Cody
Nope, he wrestled and boxed.
I'm talking about single base guys.
Yan wrestled n did other shit to as a kid. Likely as much as Cody. Yan talked about it in prefight stuff... so not sure why you’re not counting his other stuff but u count codys etc...  it’s like your trying to make him got into a category just for your thread lolÂ
And Cody was a state champ his freshman year and a runner up the next. Want to guess how long he had been wrestling to earn a state title freshman year?
You think Yan had that much experience in some form of grappling because we know it was not folk.
Funny you say Yan was a good wrestler but there is no mention of him doing any freestyl e, greco, sambo, or judo on his wiki or elsewhere.
Guess I'm just making shit up though huh.
Cody wasn’t just a state champion. He was an Ohio state champion. It’s a hugely underrated part of his game/life.
Yan said boxing was his favorite but he also trained 2 other martial arts. Not sure but I think it was wrestling and kickboxing
Calvin Kattar?Â
Dugs95 -BJ Penn Forever -fatfrenchfry -Cody
Nope, he wrestled and boxed.
I'm talking about single base guys.
Yan wrestled n did other shit to as a kid. Likely as much as Cody. Yan talked about it in prefight stuff... so not sure why you’re not counting his other stuff but u count codys etc...  it’s like your trying to make him got into a category just for your thread lolÂ
Cody was an Ohio state champ. No easy feat. Completely different ballgameÂ
Boxing = most dangerous MMA Said this for a long time! The hardest skill set to gain! Â