tengiz tedoradze mixed martial arts fighter interview

"Tengiz Tedoradze - stories abound about the mysterious Georgian. Some say he was Georgian Secret Police, others claim he's Special Forces, other theories are that he's some USSR wrestling champ. Apparently what is true is that he doesn't train MMA at all, lives in Yorkshire and plays rugby, gets in an octagon now and then and beats on his opponents like a drum"

- from the Extreme Force 1 fight preview, 11 June 2003

Tengiz Tedoradze pre-fight interview

at Extreme Force 13^th July 2003

By SFUK, Ashley Webb with SFUKING plus help translating from Tengiz's friend.

" He can wrestle a bit " - promoter Andy Jardine on Tengiz's UK debut at Millennium Brawl 6.

Everyone loves Tengiz. Maybe it's his cool name, (a kind of fusion between a Tank and Genghis. Admit it, you want to name your sons Tengiz), or maybe it's just the way he ambles into the ring like he's just got out of bed on a sunday to wash the car. He doesn't even look particularly like a fighter, no sixpack, no bulging muscles, no tatts n tan and yet he uproots his opponents and tosses them to the mat with seeming ease.

Before this interview, we'd always been led to believe that Tengiz was just some tough 'Russian' who had been discovered lurking in Yorkshire by Lee Hasdell and somehow persuaded by Andy Jardine to fight with very little MMA knowledge (due to the fact he was tapped twice by triangle after dominating his opponents - did he know what a triangle was? ). How wrong we were.

Well comrades, here's what you wanted to know about The Tengiz....

SFUK : Did you know that you have a large fan club in UK? It's your style and the way you are in the ring that people love…

Tengiz Tedoradze : (Nods, smiles) In my town people are now starting to know me

SFUK: Where do you live?

Tengiz Tedoradze : I’m living in Barnsley, in Yorkshire.

AW: There is a new adjective in MMA now - to be Tengizzed*, which means to get beat down. How do feel about that?

Tengiz Tedoradze : (Nods, smiles) I fight like that all the time. Like last time when I fought Buster (Ward)

AW : How did you feel about that fight, it looked a routine thing for you?

Tengiz Tedoradze : Every time I feel okay. Always ready. I have a really good experience in wrestling. I am a 2 time World Champion for Greco Roman wrestling. First time I win in ’87 in Canada , second time I win in Turkey, I win European championship in Sweden, five times champion in Russia.

SFUK: Wow. Its been such a big mystery. Everybody has been wondering why you’re so good. How did you start fighting mixed martial arts rather than wrestling?

Tengiz Tedoradze : When I start fighting? I start wrestling at 13 years old. I start fighting (MMA) at 20 years old.

SFUK: How old are you now?

Tengiz Tedoradze : I am 36 years old now. The first (MMA) fight I make is in Japan. Second serious fight in Russia, in Moscow. In Russia it's extremely tough because all the fighters train wrestling. In England there are no world champions (wrestlers) . Wrestling men fight too hard because it’s the whole body, legs, hands…. too hard. Boxing, kick boxing, for me its easy. When I first see a (MMA) fight, its starts with boxing, then every time after 30 seconds they start wrestling. Karate, kick boxing, boxing, but after 30 seconds its wrestling. For me its easy (wrestling).

SFUK: Are you training boxing now too?

Tengiz Tedoradze : Now I start, yes, to box.

SFUK: Theres going to be a lot of unhappy people now that you’re training in boxing, as you already kill people with your wrestling, and your opponents are going to get even more hurt now!

Tengiz Tedoradze : Boxing is hard. Its very different.

AW : Do you study opponents?

Tengiz Tedoradze : *Gestures to his trainers* Help me out here.

Tengiz’s trainer: We’re never interested. We’ve been told a bit about this opponent (Pardoel) who he’s fighting tonight, but we’re not interested. He’ll go in and do his own thing. He doesn’t want to know what style they are, whether they’re good on the floor, or good in the air (stand-up). He’s been told before that many things about opponents before but turned out to be opposite.

AW : The guy you’re facing tonight, Remco, theres a lot of video available…

Tengiz’s trainer: No. Don’t mention it. Not interested.

SFUK: Do you train submissions, like Jiu Jitsu?

Tengiz’s trainer: Yes. He just comes in with wrestling. Locks, the whole thing. We call him "The Gladiator". We’re trying to build him a fan club in the north and are looking for sponsors…

AW : Excellent. Well we hope you carry on your amazing record tonight - best of luck to you.

Tengiz Tedoradze : Thanks

*first coined by The Fear

Postscript:

Tengiz went on to beat UFC Legend Remco Pardoel by "Tengizzing" in 2 minutes 44 seconds of round 1. Tengiz took Remco down, stuck one knee on the Dutchman's head and started swinging. Remco saved himself from a beating by tapping out. He later explained his performance was due in part to being out of the ring for 13 months and gave credit to his awesome opponent.

The Amazing thing is that afterwards,Tengiz asked the promoters if he could fight again that night, stepping into Ian Freeman's shoes to face the giant dutchman, Valentijn Overeem . Overeem refused.

Extreme Force promoter, Paul Ivens remarked, "Tengiz is great. He's ready to step up to the next level. He might not get to the very top but he's sure gonna hurt a lot of people on his way up if they underestimate him. " Extreme Force have promised to look for more top class opponents for Tedoradze.

Tengiz is also rumoured to be fighting Ian Freeman & Tom Lamont (not on the same night LOL) in the near future.

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