Lightweight Andrey Koshkin will face Rasul Shovkhalov at ACB 86. Andrey has spoken about the upcoming bout:
You had a pretty long lay off, why is that?
- Yes, I had a long lay off again. Last time I had a one year lay off because of rescheduling and fight cancellations. This time I had some injuries after my last fight, so I took a little break. I needed this break to get healthy and get ready for a training camp. Now I'm feeling great and I'm really motivated for this fight. Last time my fight was rescheduled twice, so I wasn't that excited about it. As the result, I didn't execute my gameplan and got injured.
Have you made any changes in your training process after the last fight?
- Yes, I made some minor changes, but nothing too significant. I just need to do more specific work for each opponent, pay more attention to the tactics but in general the training process stayed the same: first stage is a strength and conditioning training and the second stage is a full-on MMA training.
How important is this upcoming fight for you?
- I need to get the victory more than ever. Even the win in a title fight wasn't as important for me as this one. I need to get back on the winning ways for my fans and for myself. I want to go there, execute my gameplan without any mistakes, and feed off that win for my title run.
Give us your thoughts on your opponent? How do you see this fight playing out?
- He's a tough guy, like all fighters in our league. I was watching Rasul's fights even before I singed to fight him. Now I'm watching his fights to see his strengths and weaknesses and to use it in my preparation but he can come out with a different style so I must be ready and I have multiple game-plans just in case. That way I'll be able to adopt to any situation and leave my opponent no chance for the victory.
