“Clone” Smith loves Russia, but represents Uzbekistan. The UFC has a new knockout artist
Igor Nekrasov February 12, 2024, 20:25 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
All of Bogdan Guskov’s victories are early. He wants to beat his American counterpart next.
Last weekend the UFC Fight Night 236 tournament took place. On the tournament card, Bogdan Guskov earned his first victory in the promotion, knocking out Zach Pauga in the first round. The Uzbek fighter, strikingly similar in appearance to UFC legend Anthony Smith, calls himself Tsarevich and brutally treats his opponents. Where did the new knockout artist in the UFC come from?
Bogdan Guskov is a 31-year-old man originally from Uzbekistan. Since childhood he practiced sports, although at first it was not martial arts at all. Bogdan liked athletics and later played volleyball, where he even met the CMS standard. But later Guskov began training, became interested in street fighting and began attending boxing and kickboxing classes, even though his mother was against him.
UFC Fight Night 236 highlights:
UFC Fight Night 236: Petrosyan lost to the Brazilian ahead of schedule! And the Joker got angry
Bogdan began practicing mixed martial arts after moving to Russia, but was soon forced to leave the sport and began earning money working as a security guard at a nightclub. But the lust for sports won and Guskov decided to try himself in mixed martial arts. In 2015, Bogdan made his MMA debut, at the beginning of his career performing in little-known Russian leagues. In a year and a half, he compiled a 4-1 record, with all victories coming by knockout in the first rounds. After the first defeat, Bogdan won eight victories in a row, competed in such leagues as Fight Night Global and RCC, and with a record of 9-1 entered the fight with the experienced Vyacheslav Vasilevsky, whom he lost by knockout in the first round. . .
This did not break Guskov, who continued to deliver outstanding performances in MMA Series tournaments. There, Bogdan scored four more first-round knockout victories, literally sweeping his opponents out of his way.
This season, MMA series streams are available on Okko.
Guskov’s flamboyant style and knockout power attracted the attention of the UFC: Bogdan soon found himself in the best league in the world. In addition, he had the opportunity to immediately rise in the ranking, because in his first fight he faced the former title contender, fighter Volkan Oezdemir. But the experienced Oezdemir turned out to be stronger and won by choke in the first round. Guskov himself noted that he accepted the fight on short notice, because of this there was poor preparation and a difficult weight reduction.
But Bogdan faced his second fight in the best league in the world in excellent condition and finished the fight in his traditional style, knocking out Zach Pauga in the first round. Simply fantastic numbers: Guskov achieved all 15 victories ahead of schedule, 11 of them by knockout in the first round. After the victory, Guskov raised the flags of Russia and Uzbekistan and made a rather emotional speech.
“The first victory in the UFC is even better than sex. This is a great advantage for my future. A win is a win, it means a good contract for me. In my first fight in the UFC I couldn’t show anything due to the short training camp, plus the long flight to Paris took its toll. Now I’m ready to fly to the top. Fight progress? At first I show more traditional boxing attacks and then a surprise. I could imagine, more or less, what I would do. Thanks to my team, to all the Dagestani and Brazilian gangsters who helped me a lot. “This is not just my victory, it is our common victory,” Guskov said immediately after the fight.
The brilliant knockout artist brilliantly overcame his loss to Oezdemir and is ready for future challenges in the UFC. It’s especially nice that Bogdan doesn’t forget about Russia, where he lives, trains, and where he started practicing mixed martial arts.
On the light heavyweight title race:
UFC can no longer hide the belt from Ankalaev. The Russian will also knock out Pereira
There are quite a few interesting opponents in the UFC light heavyweight division that Guskov could face right now, and the organization loves such brilliant fighters. And Bogdan himself has already stated that he wants to fight his American counterpart, Anthony Smith. By the way, the fighters met after the tournament and their external resemblance is really striking.
“There is a name that interests me, because a lot of people on my social media say I look like Anthony Smith,” Guskov said at a post-tournament press conference. “This is a very interesting fight for me because I respect this guy and it really lives up to his Lionheart nickname of him.” He’s a great guy and I want to fight him. When we enter the cage, I will show that we are different. It’s nothing personal, I have a lot of respect for this boy, the only thing that interests me is sports.”
