Fedors trainers Aleksander Michkov and Vladimir Voronov:

First of all the most important question. How serious is Fedors hand injury?

Michkov (from now on M): Fedor flew today from Chicago to LA there they will take a look at his hand again. Then we'll see how it is.

How big is the possibility that it's fracture?

M: It's not a fracture, but it's possible that there is a torn periosteum on the finger. That mean the connecting tissue broke away from the bone. They'll look at it today and then we'll know more about the injury.

If that diagnose is correct, how serious is this type of injury?

M: A torn periosteum is very unpleasant. But let's wait for the final diagnose, and depending on that we'll determine how much time will be needed for recovery.

In what moment (of the fight) did Fedor get this injury?

M: It happened somewhere in the beginning of the fight, when he threw a left hook. To be completely honest no one know or remembers when it happened exactly.

Let's go back to the beginning. How did the week before the fight go while in US? Any unpleasant surprises?
M: Everything vent good. We were preparing. Nothing special.

Can you tell us now that the fight is over, what tactic did you choose for the fight with Rogers? How did you plan to beat him?

Vladimir Voronov (From now on V): As always. We have certain combos that we work on before the fight, but there is no specific game plan that follow a straight line - you have to hit or you have to choke - we don't do it like that. Go out there and show what you've got, as good as you can, show how rounded you are, exploit your opponents weaknesses.

"Is your nose ok? Are you breathing alright? Are you controlling the situation? Forward"

Which of Roger's weaknesses did you see before the fight?

M: First of all that the opponent was much slower the Fedor, which eventually led to his mistake and out victory. We worked on that and that's what we eventually exploited.

With the first hit Rogers cut Fedor on the nose. How much did that effect the fight? There was also information about a broken nose...

M: No, the nose wasn't broken. Everything is alright. About the cut, thats always unpleasant, but I wouldn't say that it was serious. It didn't disturb during the fight and it didn't make it harder to breathe.

V: I would like to point out that was an old cut that Fedor got when he was sparring his brother Aleksander this summer. The skin popped in the exact same place, it never healed up completely.


In the first round I was under impression that Fedor, who is usually known for his god wrestling abilities had trouble with controlling Rogers on the ground.

V: That's because Rogers is a very heavy guy, that's first. The second is that he started sweating really fast and was like a piece of soap in Fedors hands. Nothing special though.

M: If Fedor wouldn't have knocked him out in the second, he would have finished it with a submission.

V: That's true by the end of the round you could see that Rogers was completely dead (as in gassed). He was already standing by the cage with his tongue on his shoulder and could barely lift his hands.

M: If it would have gone to the third round, the american wouldn't have had a chance. 100 % sure

There was a very unpleasant moment in the first round, where Rogers ended up on top and started hitting Fedor in the head. How dangerous was that situation?

V: That's a standard situation, nothing dangerous. Fedor saw everything and most of the hits weren't clean. In the fight with Coleman Fedor was in this situation twice, with Choi as well. That's a standard situation and Fedor knows very well what to do in that situation.

The fact that Fedor fought in the cage for the first time, do you think if had any effect on Fedor?

V: If the fighter is ready then it doesn't matter where the fight is. Of course there are certain nuances, but if they would effect Fedor, he wouldn't have won.


What did you tell Fedor between first and second round?

V: What could we say? We asked if the nose was ok and if he's breathing ok. Told him that he was controlling the situation and to continue.


Could you tell about the final blow? How did everything go there?

V: That's something the he and Vasilich (Michkov) have worked on. Fedor countered him.

M: That's a punch that Fedor is very familiar with, we worked on that one from very start. He does it very well, you can almost say that it has become Fedors trademark. In his fight with Arlovski that same punch got him the win. Like I told you before, we knew that our fighter is faster, and in that moment he used that advantage very well, beating his opponent to the punch while he was trying to hit Fedor with a left.

Rogers trainer said in an interview that the referee stopped the fight to early. Rogers wasn't unconscious.

M: What are you talking about? Stopped the fight to quickly? Look at that moment again. That carcass fell right on it's back. (LOL yes he actually called Rogers a carcass :D "tusha")

V: Rogers should be grateful to Fedor for not finishing him on the ground. If you watch that sequence again you can see that Fedor hit him with two shots while he was on the floor and before the referee got involved he paused because he saw that Rogers was in helpless state. He didn't want to do unnecessary damage to him. John McCarthy is one of the bes refs in US, I'm sure he did everything right. You could say that he saved Rogers. Rogers coach and Rogers himself are now looking for excuses to justify the loss, they will say that Fedor was lucky and want a rematch. That's typical American tricks. I went to Rogers after the fight to thank him for the fight, he didn't even know where he was. He looked at me like he's seen me for the first time. He was totally messed up, sailing somewhere.

M: Even ten minutes after the fight Rogers was sitting there, shaking his head, looking around him and didn't understand anything just sat there and blinked with his eyes and the all of a sudden he starts to talk: "Look at me, I want a rematch, I will tear him to pieces". Inadequate guy.

What's Fedor's opinion on the fight?

V: he thought he did ok. We agreed that there were a couple of mistakes, but in a fight you can't avoid all mistakes. There are always some nuances. Fedor pointed out his misatakes himself and we'll work on them. Fedor has still not reached his full potential, he continues to improve.