During fight week, all MMA fighters know that they need to follow strict routines and keep up with their schedules like going to media obligations, hitting the target weight during weigh-ins, and a lot more. Albert Tumenov, however, did something that would boost up the fire inside him and psych him up on his fight. Tumenov, who is a Russian native and currently holding a record of 16-2, woke up earlier than usual so he can witness Fedor Emelianenko do his magic. Fedor came back from a three-year retirement and won over Jaideep Singh back in Japan.
It may be possible that this fight will not be as great as the Fedor had in the past, but if not for “The Last Emperor”, Tumenov possibly won’t be in the MMA industry today. So, just the fact that Fedor has a fight in the same venue as where Tumenov is staying, that’s enough for him to go out of schedule and wake up early.
“Emelianenko was an inspiration not only for me, but for a lot of Russian fighters. Every proud Russian fighter was inspired by Fedor Emelianenko. So of course I got up to watch the fight and all I can say is congratulations,” Tumenov said during an interview at the UFC 195 open workouts
And even though Tumenov still has a long way to go if he wants to achieve what Fedor was able to do, the Russian native’s own fights look impressive. Tumenov, who is now 24 years old, is slowly making his way up the MMA ladder with a four-fight winning streak, three of which were in the first round.
Tumenov will be going against Lorenz Larkin in a main-card fight this coming Saturday at the MGM Grand. This fight is by far the biggest one on his MMA career.
“I set a goal that by the end of the year, I would be close to top 10, top 15, so I’m kind of going toward that goal and I’m very excited,” the Russian MMA fighter said.
Tumenov is doing very well right now. In fact, he has 11 Kos on his record, aside from getting a Performance of the Night bonus when he won over Alan Jouban last UFC 192.
Since Tumenov is a Russian native, there might be a problem with language. However, Tumenov says that his style doesn’t need translation, so language difference will definitely not be a problem.
“I really respect American fans because I started understanding, the difference is, they really appreciate when you deliver an exciting fight. If you don’t deliver an exciting fight, the same way, they’ll boo you, but either way, they tell the truth. They’ve been supporting me, they see the truth, so I appreciate that about them. I wanted to tell the American fans to sit and watch, get this fight, watch the fight and they’re not going to be disappointed. I want to tell them that Albert ‘Einstein’ Tumenov is coming, so watch this fight,” he said.