has any mma fighter traveled to russia to train?

In the 1980s, a commercial tour package "learning sambo in Soviet Union" sent pro and amateur Japanese martial artists and hobbiests to Russia where they would receive instruction at national academy. Sambo was huge in Japan back in the day because of UWF's adoption of the sport led by sayama.
 
JacJeanFinger said:
In the 1980s, a commercial tour package "learning sambo in Soviet Union" sent pro and amateur Japanese martial artists and hobbiests to Russia where they would receive instruction at national academy. Sambo was huge in Japan back in the day because of UWF's adoption of the sport led by sayama.
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Me,Myself and I, Gono, started my career as a samboist in the Lumax Cup JJJ Tournament, 1994-5-6:



 
Other than wrestling I don't really see the point of going to Russia to train. It's not an easy country to travel, most people don't speak English so it's hard to communicate the specifics of training and there's no top gyms tbh that would justify going there. Wrestling? Sure, go to the Caucasus region, it's definitely worth it but that's about it.
 
Plenty of Allstars fighters have gone to train in Chechnya. Not extensively, though.

Gustaffson, Latifi, Jimi Manuwa, Makwan Amirkhani.
 
SRN said:
Other than wrestling I don't really see the point of going to Russia to train. It's not an easy country to travel, most people don't speak English so it's hard to communicate the specifics of training and there's no top gyms tbh that would justify going there. Wrestling? Sure, go to the Caucasus region, it's definitely worth it but that's about it.
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If you can’t speak Russian or atleast understand it the training would be nearly impossible. And I think Russia has some good boxing also, I will say English is more commonly spoke now even in smaller cities, especially with the younger generation.
 
milenss said:
I returned back home from Moscow yesterday.. On the road to the aiport by taxi I saw mass street fight near some clubs early in the morning. It was weird to see, to say the least. Guys were punching each other with variety of strikes - kicks, punches, clinch game..

Life in Russia is tough. :)
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Same shit happens in Serbia all the time <45>but those are the losers anyway. Real men go to psytrance not shit clubs with shitty music <45>0 fights at psy raves :cool:
 
Arlovski used to go to Dagestan to train wrestling before it was cool.
 
JacJeanFinger said:
In the 1980s, a commercial tour package "learning sambo in Soviet Union" sent pro and amateur Japanese martial artists and hobbiests to Russia where they would receive instruction at national academy. Sambo was huge in Japan back in the day because of UWF's adoption of the sport led by sayama.
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That's actually funny given that when the Soviet Union government was trying to come up with Sambo, they sent a group of students (including the founder of Sambo, Vasili Oschepkov) to Japan. There Oschepkov studied Judo at the Kodokan Institute of Judo. He brought back many Japanese elements from Judo and Jiu Jitsu back to Russia and helped found Sambo. The commercial tour packages literally do the opposite by sending Japanese people to Russia.
 
You are right. The reason why Russia was an option for me is because I am a fluent Russian speaker. It would be difficult to get a good training without having some Russian knowledge. However, more and more people are learning Russian and some of the larger gyms in Moscow might have instructors that can help you in English.
 
Additionally, although Russia was always good for MMA training, the recent success of Russian fighters is making it even better. As you may know, Khabib's father heads the eagles MMA gym in Moscow. and Khabib also trains there from time to time. I know that Eagles MMA has also 2-3 more locations around Russia. In addition to the names that have been listed by europe1, there is also Fabricio Werdum who has trained in Russia (as he is sponsored by the President of Chechnya). According to an index by ScoreCardMMA that includes quantity and quality of fighters, Russia ranks 3rd (behind obvious US and Brazil)
 
opposity said:
According to an index by ScoreCardMMA that includes quantity and quality of fighters, Russia ranks 3rd (behind obvious US and Brazil)
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I think those rankings sites (FightMatrix, ScoreCard) are a bit biased towards American MMA though (as it's their main focus) and give more prestige/weight to fighting in those orgs in their maths models, in one part that's understandable (UFC belts are the pinnacle) but it also means those algorhythm-style sites overrate US and (especially) Brazilian fighters vs Russian ones since more of those guys fight in the UFC or Bellator while Russians mostly fight in Russian orgs that American fans know less about and don't give as much prestige when creating models.

Funnily the opposite is probably true for non-maths nerd models (i.e. fans posting on the 'net tending to maybe overrate Russian fighters).

It's common for wrestling teams from everywhere (including the USA) to train in the Dagestan or Ossetia these days.
 
few years ago Aaron Pico went to Russia with his ukrainian coach to train wrestling
 
Well Stitch Albu is from Moldova and trains in Moscow, so that's one from the current UFC roster.
 
Xuh said:
I think those rankings sites (FightMatrix, ScoreCard) are a bit biased towards American MMA though (as it's their main focus) and give more prestige/weight to fighting in those orgs in their maths models, in one part that's understandable (UFC belts are the pinnacle) but it also means those algorhythm-style sites overrate US and (especially) Brazilian fighters vs Russian ones since more of those guys fight in the UFC or Bellator while Russians mostly fight in Russian orgs that American fans know less about and don't give as much prestige when creating models.

Funnily the opposite is probably true for non-maths nerd models (i.e. fans posting on the 'net tending to maybe overrate Russian fighters).

It's common for wrestling teams from everywhere (including the USA) to train in the Dagestan or Ossetia these days.
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Honestly, its not really bias as America really is the best for combat sports, be it facilities, be it the quantity of the fighters, be it quality of fighters, and be it the money involved. As a half-Russian myself, I can say that most of the Russians we see in the UFC are the ones that would be the top fighters in M1-Global. Its not like there is anyone who would just quit M1 and come to UFC and instantly win a title. No way. The Russians we see on UFC today are here because they were already better than the competition in Russia.
 
Also, I want to add that if anyone wants to join me for 2-3 weeks in Russia, feel free to msg me. I speak Russian fluently and can translate during training. It will be good for me, as well, as we would share the accommodation fees.
 
Xuh said:
I think those rankings sites (FightMatrix, ScoreCard) are a bit biased towards American MMA though (as it's their main focus) and give more prestige/weight to fighting in those orgs in their maths models, in one part that's understandable (UFC belts are the pinnacle) but it also means those algorhythm-style sites overrate US and (especially) Brazilian fighters vs Russian ones since more of those guys fight in the UFC or Bellator while Russians mostly fight in Russian orgs that American fans know less about and don't give as much prestige when creating models.

Funnily the opposite is probably true for non-maths nerd models (i.e. fans posting on the 'net tending to maybe overrate Russian fighters).

It's common for wrestling teams from everywhere (including the USA) to train in the Dagestan or Ossetia these days.
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This ridiculous site seems to have Handy above Nog... Says it all.
 
Wait.. let me call all of them and I'll get back to you..
<4>
 
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