Legacy Fighting Alliance returns to Denver, Colo. on Friday, Jun. 22. Headlining LFA 186, undisputed middleweight champion Azamat Bekoev will do everything possible to defend his title against Chauncey Foxworth. Bekoev spoke with Vladimir Gornostaev ahead of his championship bout.
My coach told me that Colorado is a high-mountain state. There might be some acclimatization, they say it’s hard to breathe there, but I grew up among the mountains, and I’m sure I can handle it. The LFA organizers told me that there are a lot of Russian-speaking people in Denver. In America, I’ve never had such a large number of people come to support you, just because you’re from Russia. I even heard that in some local Denver newspaper, which is published in Russian, on the main page, they put that there will be my fight. It’s interesting. Let’s see what will happen in Denver. The support is always nice, especially abroad.
Azamat trains and lives in the legendary American Top Team gym in Coconut Creek, Fla., where many mixed martial arts stars have trained.
I live in a hotel at the ATT gym. It’s very convenient – two minutes and you’re in the gym. It happened that you work with someone in a pair, and then they come up to me and say, ‘Yo, do you know who you were training with?’ I don’t know, of course, and it turns out there are some UFC fighters in there. To be honest, I don’t always follow all the Bellator and UFC events, and I don’t know all the athletes who are already somewhere on their way to the top. I’m focused only on myself. Lately I don’t talk to journalists much. I don’t give interviews much. Especially, in times of preparation for the fight.
Bekoev knows a little bit ooponent, but doesn’t worry much about him.
My opponent is an experienced fighter, I don’t look at his 19-9 record, he has losses in his record, but I look at his winning streak of six wins. He’s got 10 early wins. He’s an experienced opponent, and you can’t underestimate him.
Bekoev won his last fight against a Brazilian fighter by unanimous decision in Dec. 2023.