this guy apparently beat fedor in last years world sambo championships and has been quoted as saying he wants to defeat fedor in mma. he starts his mma career on aug 2 against kazuyuki fujita and is already signed to face aleksander e. in september. has anyone seen this guy on tape? do you think he is or will be any good???
Well Fedor has beaten him as well. In Fedor's loss Ivanov got double underhooks and had a nice little hip toss, not huge, but nice. He was able to throw punches without getting KO'd so his striking seems at least able to pass that test. The real question is how good is his mat grappling? Fedor's is amazing, he handles top level BJJ blackbelts on the ground, and great wrestlers/judoka on the feet; most people from a Sambo background don't seem to be able to do both. If this guy can translate his Sambo ground grappling like Fedor does, then he could be outstanding, but almost nobody can grapple on the ground like Fedor. He certainly has the takedown game from what I've seen; but again the determining factor will be his sustained grapplin on the ground, which I haven't seen much of, so I can't say one way or the other, just that its not likely he is as good as Fedor.
Good thread. I'm really interested to see how Blagoi does, he's being thrown in at the deep end, Fujita and then Aleksander is an incredible introduction to mma. I've been waiting for him to make his debut since i read about his SAMBO match wih Fedor. There's not a great deal of information about him, here's some videos i found, ryanty22 .. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20h6lPkERJs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4YkK0g7ZCU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mX-3qFFvvxg&feature=related
great vids, thanks chuffy. the guy has some talent we will find out more in the beginning of august when he fights fujita. he really is throwing himself into the deepend of the pool with those first two fights. i will be very interested to see how he does especially against aleksander, and if he dominates little bro will big brother call him out???
No problem, anytime .. Yeah, you're right, it's going to be VERY interesting, i can't wait to see what happens?. Can you imagine if he gets past Fuijita and Aleksander? :scaredas: Also, from that interview, he appears very humble, which is cool, great addition to MMA. :good
Another article ... http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...ces-kazuyuki-fujita-in-mma-debut-at-sengoku-9
Some stats i never knew .. http://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Blagoi-Ivanov-50154 And this bizarre video .. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1UjAuaZK9g
