Magomed Ankalaev is one of the most striking fighters of the UFC and real contender for the title. On March 12, in Las Vegas, Magomeda will have to take another step towards the belt. On this day, his fight with Tiago Santos is appointed. In the last week of Magomed in Dagestan, we talked with him about motivation, horses and Ramzan Kadyrov.

Magomed Ankalaev is very restrained and quite modest in communication, which can not be said about him during battles and training. He had just held five-minute sparring with the PFL champion Ali Isaev , the ex-US-beer of the UFC Gadzhimurad Antholov , the EFC fighter Alan Makitov and other heavyweights. And in each of these confrontations, Magomed worked in a dominant manner. We are sitting with him after sparring, and it seems that he was not tired at all and is ready to spend another five rounds in the cage.

- How is the preparation going? How did the camp begin?

- Everything goes according to plan! We have been preparing for two months. The last month remained. We have great goals, so I leave myself in the hall.

- The famous expert Mike Raymondi said on the ESPN channel that you and Islam Makhachev will become champions in your weight categories. How do you yourself think how many fights do you still need to win to get to the waist?

- In a good situation, I hope that in two fights it will already be possible to fight behind the belt. The champion of our division, Glover Tosher, will now fight with the second number - Irji Prokhazka , and the first issue, Jan Blahovich, will come up with the third rating number - Alexander Rakich . I think the winner of this battle will fight for the title, and I will need to win someone else from the top 5 in order to accurately get a battle for the belt. Of course, provided that I will win my nearest battle.

- The One FC fighter Anatoly Malykhin, who sparked with you, says that even during sparring he has to turn on 100%to confront you. Where do you take such motivation for training and on battles? What do you say to yourself before the battle?

-Anatoly is a very strong, hardy fighter, which is why I had to give all the best with him. But I am always very serious for every sparring for every training.

For me, sport has become a way to provide myself. Once I worked as a guard, watchman and earned a penny. He performed in amateurs and once found out that for the victory at the World Cup in MMA they pay a salary of about 70 thousand rubles. This greatly motivated me to win this championship. And I achieved this.

Now I earn pretty well, I can afford a lot. I can help other people, respond to some requests for help. The new contract with the UFC gives me even more comfortable financial conditions.

If we talk about other causes of motivation, then everyone remembers my only defeat in a professional career when I fought the whole battle on the points, but at the very end of the third round, literally a second before the end, I got into a strangling reception. This episode greatly influenced me, I was very upset. Therefore, I don't want to experience the same feelings anymore. The bitterness of the defeat also began to motivate me to victories.

Kadyrov and the USA

- You have long been a fighter of the Akhmat club. After a fight with a Volkan Ozdemir, Ramzan Kadyrov invited you to his place and gave Mercedes. Tell me about your relationship with Kadyrov. What are you talking about at the meeting?

- Ramzan Akhmatovich treats me very well. In communication, it is very simple, speaks as equal, without demonstrating that he is the president of the republic. We are talking about past battles, we are discussing the training of Akhmat club athletes. He really gave me a car on which I am now driving, for which I am grateful to him. He even noted that I am worthy of more (smiles).

- Most of the preparation you and your coach Sukhrab Magomedov spend in Dagestan. Is there enough conditions, specialists and sparring partners for a full-fledged camp? An example of Khabib Nurmagomedov and his team showed that in the US, athletes progress faster.

- We are flying to the USA usually a month before the fight. Basically, so that there are no problems with acclimatization, and already there we are carrying out weight gain. The weight goes very easily, the last pair of kilograms is hardly given. We train there at the UFC Institute with local sparring partners. But we carry out all the main work in Dagestan. I hope that Sukhrab and I will be able to prove that in the conditions of Dagestan without connecting American experts, you can get to the UFC won.

- Magomed, you are a slightly public person, you are inactively leading your page on Instagram, so the public is not entirely dedicated to the details of your unsportsmanlike life. Who are you friends with? What are your hobbies?

- I have close friends with whom I meet at least once a week. There is a hobby for horses . Marat Uzdenov gave me an excellent horse, but he broke his leg, and he had to cut it. Then I already bought a horse myself. Sometimes, when I feel the workload from training, I take a day off, sit on a horse and go for a walk. This is strongly unloading.

Politics or business?

- Today, media is an integral part of a sports career. Many fighters, even without great achievements, are popular due to activity in social networks. Due to which their income is growing. You, unlike them, are slightly active in social networks. Is sports success more important for you than financial?

- Yes, I understand all this. The UFC itself better promotes those athletes who themselves fuel the interest of the public. Although I will not say that they somehow push me away from the title. As for activity in social networks, I thought for a long time, just when I come to training, I concentrate only on the work process, and I don’t even have thoughts to pick up the phone, write a video, take a picture. Unless I post a collective photo after training.

I think that after the next battle it will be necessary to work in this direction, hire a team in order to increase its activity in the media.

- In one of the interviews, you said that you should work out one crown suffocating or painful technique. You train, including with a black belt on Jiu-Jitsu Arsen Shapiev. Did you manage to make any achievements with him?

- Yes, I still do not have a single battle completed by the submishene, and that would be nice for me and for my further career. With Arsen, we already have some achievements. But in gloves it is not always possible to implement all these techniques.

“ Do you want to stay in sports as much as your health will allow you, or as Habib - to leave the undefeated at the peak?”

- I do not want to run ahead, but I'm sure that I will not leave the sport while at my peak. I will perform as much as health will allow me.

- Who do you see yourself after a sports career? Can you open your club? Will you go to politics? Can you open a coffee shop or mining farm?

- I think I will deal with business. Although there is a desire to open its own sports club, which can also be a business. ] § [

"I will not leave at the peak of a career"