Fedor: I really did not stand out. Trainers look at talent above everything else. They look at how many fights a boy wins. They bet only on those fighters, who can produce results, even with young fighters.

You were not that fighter?

Fedor: I had more defeats than victories. It all changed after many hard years of training. I became a new person after the army. Army made a man out of me. I really gained physical strength there. And then the victories came. I got into the Russian team - in both Judo and Sambo.

You served in a fire-fighter unit?

Fedor: I spent a year in a fire-fighter unti, then went into the tank division. Actually, that's where I had to use my physical strength outside the ring.

Your fellow soldiers didn't like you?

Fedor: I came in March right in time for the Fall draft. Those who were there before me, wanted to prove who's the boss in the place, tried to everyone else down. I had to use my fists.

One time?

Fedor: No, there were a few times. But respect came quickly to me, and to the guys who were alongside me.

Did you have to use your fists in bars?

Fedor: No. Hope, I won't have to be in those kind of circumstances. I'm shy: I sit somewhere in the corner, so that no one would notice me.

Your first fight in Mixed Martial Arts against Levan Lobelav was saved on a tape?

Fedor: It exists somewhere. I saw it long time ago. When I watch my old fights, I understand how I grew. The mistakes are so apparent. But you can see in those fights that I was moving in the right direction.

Do you remember a moment of intense physical pain in your life?

Fedor: Probably when I was a kid. Although a few years ago I was knocked down - very unpleasant feeling. That was my first fight as a world champion with a Japanese fighter Fujita. But I won anyway.

Where did he strike you?

Fedor: In the temple. It was not even pain, it was something else. I didn't even understand what happened.

Can you read fear in your opponent's eyes when they face you before the fight?

Fedor: I never look in the eyes of my opponent

Why?

Fedor: I don't know. It just how it always was. If I do look, nothing will change.

What is the secret in your unbeatability?

Fedor: In my work. I'm always training hard - wrestle, box, run. Never ending preparation exercises. Rope jumping, dip bars.

Your opponents also do not sit with their arms bent.