NOTE: Oleg Popov spoke to the media prior to Valentin Moldavsky’s loss in the main event. The two are indeed set to face each other in the first round of the playoffs.
Uncasville – PFL heavyweight Oleg Popov clinched a spot in the playoffs with a win over Davion Franklin at PFL 4 on Thursday night leaving the possibility of facing teammate Valentin Moldavsky at some point.
“Honestly I only think about the fight as it’s coming up so I didn’t really think about it,” Popov told reporters including Cageside Press through a translator at his post-fight scrum.
“I was concentrating on this fight 100%. I don’t want to think about it. Few days to think things over and just reset again. You have to work your ass off to get to the finals.”
Popov (18-1) took a decision victory over Franklin who showed very good takedown defense throughout the fight.
“Honestly even Moldavsky has better defense. He was way bigger than I am. I didn’t have any problems,” he said.
Training with the famed Fedor Team led by MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko the standard is set very high for their fighters. Popov wasn’t happy with the performance, but knew the win was the important thing.
“Sometimes you prepare 100%, you’re ready for the fight, you get inside the cage, and something goes wrong. Was one of those days where something went off, not according to plan, and I apologize to my fans,” he said.
“The fight was pretty boring I think. I’ll try to do it better next time.”
Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Oleg Popov above.
