It’ll help, but a million dollars isn’t that much nowadays, Maxim Grishin said following his win at PFL 6 in Atlantic City.
Atlantic City, NJ — Maxim Grishin, who has been training with the Strong Style team out in Ohio of late, is one of three fighters in the Professional Fighters League’s light heavyweight division to win both their regular season fights. In Grishin’s case, a knockout win at PFL 6 in Atlantic City earned him six points, bringing his total to nine — by the end of the night, good enough to clinch second seed heading into the playoffs.
The knockout, forty-eight seconds into his fight with Mikhail Mokhnatkin, seemingly came out of nowhere. Speaking to reporters including Cageside Press following the fight, Grishin said that “when I felt the punch on the feet, I saw when he was falling down, I saw he was out already.” So at least one person wasn’t surprised. A couple of follow-up strikes came next, but they were barely necessary. As Grishin pointed out, however, “it’s our job, we’ve got to do our job until the referee stop the fight.”
Asked if it was luck or skill, landing that particular blow, Grishin said it was something he trained. “I was preparing for my fight in Cleveland, at Strong Style, it’s my second family in the U.S. They prepared me for that shot.”
“It wasn’t a lucky punch, they were preparing [me] for that.”
Now, as he moves to the post-season, Grishin is sitting pretty. He’ll face Jordan Johnson, who won earlier in the night, in the opening round. But when it comes to opponents, he has no preference. “I don’t care,” he told Cageside Press, “but I want to say that every fighter in our division is a very tough guy, so I’ll be ready for everyone, anyone.”
As for how he’ll spend the million dollars, “I don’t think about that, but nowadays it’s not that much,” he deadpanned. His translator was quick to add “but it will help.”
Training out of Strong Style, Grishin has been on hand to see Stipe Miocic prep for his rematch against Daniel Cormier. Asked about how he see that fight going, Grishin answered that “Stipe is very very ready for that fight, he wants that very much, he’s looking for revenge. It’s a very high quality fight. Both of them are tough, tough guys. Let’s just wait and enjoy the fight. Anything can happen.”
Watch the full PFL 6 2019 post-fight press scrum with Maxim Grishin above!
