Vladir Voronov - Fedor Emelianenko's coach interview

Translation thanks to tmr on the UG:

How was the flight?
VV:Silent
(laughter)
VV: The flight was alright.

How did they receive you? Where did you stay? Where did you eat?

VV: We stayed at the Marriot, we ate and trained there as well. Upon our arrival we met with a few russians guys, actually not only russian guys, a few atheletes. Fedor didn't make that meeting though, him and Vasilich' didn't go because they some other shooting thing and towards the end he didn't feel too good [from what i understand he means Vasilich']. So we went to the meeting and answered questions. There's a lot of russians around there, every 10th-11th in chicago is russian. In the competitions there's always a lot of them supporting.

So there's a lot of russians fans supporting?
VV: Yeah a lot of them, maybe even half of them.
(other person in the car): the majority
VV: Well there's also a lot of Americans cheering for fedor as well because he's always acting in a positive way towards his opponent and it's never personal which is usually not the case for other fighters, not all but a lot of them, so they also cheer for fedya and everybody was happy for his victory.

Your impressions of the event?
VV: Of the event?
Yes, the organization, the venue , production etc?
VV: The venue was "cozy" [i'd say nice but he did say literally cozy], the organization is good, the show was interesting. The fighter's entrances were well done. So far it's not worse than affliction for sure, and i'm not even talking about the UFC.

There were fights that didn't make the main card, the undercard, how were they?
VV: To be honest i didn't see those fights because i was with fedor, he was warming up and i was helping with the preparation for the fight. So we didn't have time to watch those fights. Not to mention that we have arrived around the main part so i just didn't have time.

So what's with fedor, how's fedor after the fight?
VV: He's feeling alright, there's something with his left hand, they just did an xray and we're not sure yet but it's not a break but a tear/tendon damage. So they'll take care of that in the states and at the same time relax and have a small vacation. Everything else is fine, the nose was the skin ripping, before the fight it was already damaged there, it didn't heal completely before the fight. Outside of that everything is fine, excellent health.

There was talk about Fedor resting for the next 3 months, right?
VV: Rest yes but 3 months to rest? No, Fedya will rest until the end of November, maybe 10 more days, whatever's necessary for the hand, and then that rest will come to an end. When he comes back, a day or two and he'll be back to active training. Run a cross or something else. He's always training - three months is too much. (laughter) People don't rest for that long.

How was the press conference? Was there a reception or after party after it? What was there? I mean we don't know so much. What was interesting?

VV: Well there wasn't any event or big party after because after the fight we went to the clinic right away, it was public and we were there for about 2 hours so we were there for a while. Once all that was done we went to the hotel, we got there around 3 am. So our close friends were obviously awaiting us, we sat down for a little bit had some dinner and went to sleep. There was no big party or anything like that, everybody worked and everyone was tired. The next morning there's a few fighters in chicago we know, they're from the USSR and trained sambo, they invited us so we spent the day with them. Fedor was resting, obviously slept a lot. The next day we left, Fedor and Vadim went to LA. Finish up giving an interview and some other business.

What are the plans for strikeforce? m1? Upcoming opponents? When's the next fight?
VV: I think that strikeforce is happy, the fight was important. Fedor's contract has 2 more fights, the next one will probably be in early spring, possibly in march. The opponent? That's Vadim's field. We don't know it yet, when we find out we will start training for him. That's about it.

Thank you vladimir Mihailich, congrats with the victory, you, alexander vasilich' and fedor!

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