Andrey Koreshkov and Magomed Umalatov may come from the same country, but this won’t be a friendly sparring match.
Koreshkov and Umalatov will square off in the evening’s featured bout at PFL 3 on Friday at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago on Friday night. The Russian athletes will be vying for points in the regular season standings at welterweight, and Koreshkov is expecting an intense confrontation in the cage as a result.
“I would say that there will be no compromises in this fight, even though we both come from Russia, but it doesn't mean that we will feel sorry for each other in the fight,” Koreshkov said through a translator during a PFL media event on Wednesday. “We are going to fight like we are going to fight anybody else, so it's going to be a very spectacular, very brutal, very exciting fight — so don't blink.”
A former Bellator MMA champion, Koreshkov has 31 bouts of professional experience to his credit. Meanwhile, the undefeated Umalatov is a highly-touted talent who might be considered one of the favorites in the PFL welterweight field. However, Koreshkov doesn’t think his opponent has faced the same level of competition that he has over the course of his MMA career.
“He's good in standing, he's good in wrestling, ground game, everywhere,” Koreshkov said. “The only thing that I can say is that so far, the level of the opposition that he has faced maybe was not on the highest level, but still he's very dangerous and a good opponent. Also, I noticed that he does not get tired, so it means that he has a decent conditioning.”
Koreshkov, who enters the matchup on a five-fight winning streak, has previous experience competing in Bellator’s tournament format. The PFL season is a different matter entirely, and Koreshkov is already focusing on certain aspects of the new format.
“It kind of enforces you to try to finish your opponent as early as possible, because if you do that, in addition to points that you get by beating your opponent you also get additional points if you [finish him] in the first round,” Koreshkov said. “That is why from one side you have to be really careful not to injure yourself because an injury obviously can prevent you from [continuing to fight] in the tournament, but at the same time you have to be aggressive to finish your opponent and get more points to advance.
“So because of that I don't think that my experience in Bellator, to be specific in tournaments, would really help me here. However, the fact that I used to fight often and I'm OK with it… Now this experience would obviously help me here.”
While Koreshkov has enjoyed success as a champion in the past, it’s important to him to make a statement in his new journey with the PFL.
“Now I'm in a new promotion. If I can say so, I'm in a higher comfort zone. Everything is new here for me,” he said. “And I want to show myself well here. And it's very important for me.”
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