Nikita Krylov, currently on a 2-fight win streak, returns to action this Sunday with a potential title contender deciding bout against Ryan Spann.
Krylov, a former M1 Global fighter, will be looking to build on his record of 29-9 with a finish, the Ukranian is notorious for Submissions and KOs. Taking just one minute and seven seconds to KO multiple-time title challenger Alexander Gustaffson. The Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu expert kept the momentum going with a win against Volkan Oezemdir.
Ahead of his fight against Ryan Spann, Nikita Krylov spoke exclusively to News18.com.
Here are excerpts from the interaction:
How has the training camp been?
Everything is great. I trained for 42 months in Kislovodsk, which is a city in Russia, in the mountain region. And after that, for three weeks now, I have been in Las Vegas, and everything went great, ready to go.
How confident are you heading into this fight against Ryan Spann?
Much like in all my other fights, I either kill or get killed.
In the past, we’ve seen you pick up many submission wins and KOs, what’s your plan for this fight against Ryan Spann?
I don’t predict and I don’t plan how I’m going to finish the fight. What I do is I come out and I put my own tempo, my own rhythm on the fight and push my pace, and with that pace, the fight decides on its own. What’s going to happen is all fights as usual, they start stand up, then what’s going to happen is either somebody’s going to be the first one to throw out the lucky punch or someone’s gonna be the first one to take somebody else down and the fight can end at any moment, so stay tuned.
You’re currently ranked 6th in the light heavyweight division, how soon can your fans expect to see you in a title fight?
I don’t really want to look ahead of my opponent. I think right now, what’s important is to get the victory on Saturday, and then what happens, I think with this victory, I’m either already going to be a contender for the title or I will be one step closer to being the contender for the title.
Could you tell us about your nickname, ‘The Miner’?
It’s respect to my country, it’s respect to the region I was born in. My entire family is miners. That’s what they do for their profession, we’re born in a smaller mining town. I myself have also spent some time working in a mine at one point. So, I knew that this was going to be something that is very important to me and I have to pay some kind of respect to that, so that’s why it was decided that it would be my nickname.
So Basically, MMA is your second hardest job?
Yeah, you could say that, but I guess just like in a mine, here in the octagon, I make sure to give my entire self, my 100% to every fight.
What inspired you to become an MMA fighter?
I guess you could say that it’s the way I was raised, where I was raised and it was a time where when I was growing up, I had to fight quite a bit, and I realized that when I started training, my first sport was karate, and I was pretty good at that. So I wanted to be a little more universal as a fighter. There was an opportunity for me to become a fighter and I grabbed it and ran with it.
Having been in the UFC for around 10 years, with an illustrious career, what were some of the best moments in your UFC career so far?
It’s hard to pinpoint one specific moment, but you could say that my debut in the UFC was very important for me, my first victory in the UFC was very important to me. Those were not the same fights. So, those were important. Also, of course, my fight against Glover Texeira was very important, and also my fight against Fabio Maldonado, when I got the title for the Fight Nights promotion, that was very important to me as well, I would like to mention that.
If not the MMA, what do you see yourself doing?
I would either be put in jail or maybe would have been an alcoholic.
Message for your fans especially in India?
A huge thanks to everyone who supports me. It’s very important. And I really like the fact that there are lots of people all around the world that like MMA. So, make sure to watch on Saturday night, it’s going to be an incredible fight and exciting fight, so thank you.
Watch the LIVE coverage of UFC Fight Night - Kyrlov vs Spann on Sony Sports Ten 2 (English), Sony Sports Ten 3 (Hindi) & Sony Sports Ten 4 (Tamil & Telugu) channels at 5:30 am IST on 26th February 2023
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