MMA
Exclusive Q&A: Vadim Nemkov can beat Francis Ngannou, says Valentin Moldavsky
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Valentin Moldavsky is one of eight fighters in the PFL World Heavyweight Tournament. On May 1, he will face Sergey Bilostenniy in the first round.
After a loss in 2024 to Linton Vassell, Valentin Moldavsky is back. DAZN News spoke to the fighter trained by MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko.
DAZN News: You’re a member of 'Fedor Team.' What's coach Fedor like?
Valentin Moldavsky: He asks a lot, but he's a very good coach for sure.
DN: To have a legend of his importance with you is lucky, but it must add pressure. How do you deal with that pressure?
VM: I don't really feel any pressure because as long as the team exists, we've been training together from the beginning, so I don't really feel any pressure.
DN: You're up against Sergey Bilostenniy, also from Russia. What do you think of him?
VM: He's a good friend of mine. Basically, we've known each other for a while. We train together. He's a very strong guy. He has a good punch. He can take a punch. He's a very tough opponent. I don't really know what's going to happen in the fight. I hope I win, but we'll see how it's going to go. Fire will show.
DN: Three fights, eight guys, one shot — what do you think of the roster? Alexander Romanov was in the UFC, Timothy Johnson and Rodrigo Nascimento too.
VM: It's a lot of good fighters for sure. They come from all different backgrounds, all different leagues and stuff. Now, they're all in PFL, so I'm pretty excited. I'm just concentrating on the upcoming fight, pretty much.
DN: You were injured. How have you been?
VM: Yeah, I got injured, but since November, I’ve been coming back. I was recovering for a bit, but right now I feel better and I'm training fully.
DN: You're coming off a defeat against Linton Vassell. What went wrong?
VM: The main problem was the broken hand. I thought it was good. One hand would be enough for me to fight, but unfortunately, it wasn't. Vassell is a really tough opponent.
DN: You could be up against Oleg Popov in the final, who's also a Fedor Team fighter. Who's he going to be up against?
VM: It's a tough question for him, especially. He’s probably not going in the corner of either one. He’s just going to watch from the outside. This is sportsmanship, so we have a lot of respect for each other, but it's not something we want personally. We're good friends and everything else, but this is a tournament and sport. There's nothing we can do.
DN: You're part of the Fedor Team with Vadim Nemkov on a winning streak (four). If you win the tournament, you'll be back as champion after being interim champion. Are you interested in Francis Ngannou?
VM: Honestly, I don't want to think ahead of myself. As of right now, I'm concentrating on the upcoming fight. If everything goes well and I win the tournament, I'm going to think about a potential fight with Francis. But for now, I'm just concentrating on this specific fight.
DN: Can Vadim defeat him?
VM: For sure. Vadim is really good. He's well-rounded. At this point especially, I think he's going to give a lot of problems to Francis. I'm pretty sure he's going to beat him. As for Ngannou, he's mostly training for boxing right now, and Vadim is still very active in MMA.
