From M-1 Sport:
[quote]February,8, Kharkiv, Ukraine. The finals of the Chest Voina (Warrior’s Honor) Tournament.
Bogdan Khmelnitskiy had an opportunity to catch up with legendary Ukrainian fighter Igor Vovchanchyn. Bogdan asked Igor some pretty interesting questions. Unfortunately the interview is not exhaustive but nevertheless:
Bogdan Khmelnitskiy: Tell me about your schooldays. Did you fight a lot back in the days? When did you start training?
Igor Vovchanchyn: I studied well. Fought a lot, I had beaten everybody back then. Basically, I was a bully (smiles). At school I used to train in athletics. I had trained there for 5 years and I ran faster than anybody. Later on I was invited to box, I used to train there under Oleg Ermakov. Only then someone approached me asking to go train in kickboxing. They looked for a guy of my size so I agreed.
Bogdan Khmelnitskiy: At “Warrior’s Honor” long time ago you got caught with a submission by Andrey Besedin but soon enough during the World Championship in Moscow in 1995 you impressed everyone with a good submission defense. Tell us about your training regimen. How much did your training differ when you just started training from the moment you took part in Pride events?
Igor Vovchanchyn: Well, I came to wrestle with Subbotin straight away after that loss. I spent 1,5 - 2 hours on wrestling. That’s how I learned it. Of course, the training was different. I payed more attention to other disciplines beside striking. I trained twice a day: striking technique and running in te morning, wrestling and striking in the evening.
Bogdan Khmelnitskiy: What do you do for living now? If you are asked to return back in action, will you agree?
Igor Vovchanchyn: I’m a businessman now. I won’t come back. Sure I think about it every once in a while, but I’m 35, you know. The main problem is the injuries. I can’t even strike with my right hand. I got three screws in my right elbow and one in the left. I’m about to undergo an operation on my nose as I can’t breathe right. To sum things up, there is no sense in my comeback.
Bogdan Khmelnitskiy: Any comments on the demise of Pride?
Igor Vovchanchyn: (Confused) Well, it’s bad. Americans trampled down pretty much everything there, and they pay too little. Monopoly is not good in this case. It would be for the best if Pride stayed alive.[/quote]