Ever since the mixed martial arts’ legalization in the Russian Federation back in 2012, the sport has developed into an intricate display of pageantry and cultural experiences that adds a theatrical element to the regulated violence and splatters of blood. Few Russian MMA events occur without elaborate entrances, Far-East dances with delicate costume designs, and the occasional spider-lady hanging from the rafters like questionable tapestry.
Over the past few months, however, it has been the addition of an English commentator to the Eurasia Fight Nights broadcasts on UFC Fight Pass that have taken the hardcore MMA community by storm. Veteran Russian commentator, Roman Mazurov, was tasked with speaking in a foreign language during fast-moving situations to astonishing results. While a capable English speaker by Russian educational standards, Mazurov’s numerous quips yielded tremendous comedic effect, as well as an odd, cult-like infamy generated from unscripted, mid-event interactions such as:
Mazurov: Do you like Vodka?
Woman: Yes, I do.
Mazurov: Will you be at the afterparty?
Woman: Yes, I will be there.
Mazurov: I will be there either. I will see you dancing, I hope…and drinking vodka.
While Mazurov’s English-speaking personality provided laughs and chuckles during brutal match-ups, his resume shows years of experience covering combat sports in Russia. He works for public sports channel MatchTV, where he mainly focuses on commentary and analysis for kickboxing and boxing events. He is also a radio host for Спорт FM (Sport FM), where he discusses general sports, and a writer for various MMA outlets. To add to his many hats, Mazurov was also a kid’s taekwondo coach before transitioning to an on-air personality.
By 2015, Mazurov was the official voice for Eurasia Fight Nights and began accumulating a list of unprovoked witticisms, mainly in broken English, that endeared him to international viewers. In fact, Fight Pass later compiled a list of Mazurov’s greatest hits and featured it as though it was a highlight reel. For Mazurov, his newfound celebrity is surreal to behold.
“Well it was a complete shock for me,” Mazurov told BloodyElbow. “Firstly, I couldn't understand why do Americans like the speech of a Russian guy. But after I talked to some of the fans, they told me that the main thing is that I'm sincere in my emotions, and its true. I was really nervous about my English, because it is not my native language, but I realized that despite some mistakes there are things that are much more important. As far as I understood, people like the manner I speak. Some of them like the sense of humor, but all of them like that I express my emotions sincerely.”
Mazurov’s sincerity became evident during EFN’s landmark show headlined by legendary heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko and Fabio Maldonado. During the fight, Maldonado floored Emelianenko and bombarded him with an onslaught of strikes. The referee refused to acknowledge the blows as significant enough to end the fight, despite Fedor’s inability to intelligently defend himself. As all this unfolded on Fight Pass screens across the world, Maurov exclaimed: “I don’t know what is going on. What the hell is going on in the Octagon. What is happening? Stop the fight!”
Naturally, this only added to his growing cult of personality. Mazurov, though, is still not certain whether fans are celebrating his approach sincerely, or mocking him indiscriminately.
“I read many negative things about my commentaries, but I am used to overcoming such things working in Russia. You will never be good for everybody. So it's no big deal. As for my English some words just like ‘unexpectable’ flew out of my mouth under emotions. I think that is one of the main things that attracted viewers.
“The hardest thing for me is to explain the tactics and to react at different moments correctly, I know exactly how it should be done in Russian, so there is a lot of job for me to improve my skills.”
While Mazurov’s current run with EFN is notable to an international audience, it is far from his most controversial work. Earlier this year, the commentator was involved in a feud with Emelianenko, after the ‘Last Emperor’ criticized his commentary on MatchTV during the inaugural RIZIN show for its apparent inaccuracies. While Fedor did not single Mazurov out personally, he called the commentary team “unprofessional and unprepared.” Despite most agreeing with Fedor’s criticism, Mazurov responded by blaming Fedor’s press service for making it difficult to communicate with athletes at the time. As he explains it, the feud made him a notorious figure in the Russian MMA sphere.
“It was a moment of my triumph,” Mazurov explained. “At the beginning [2016] a friend of mine, Maria Deeva, showed me Fedor's twitter where he wrote that the commentators that worked at his fight are not professionals, that they made a lot of mistakes, and that we announced wrong facts about his training. During the commentary, I said that Fedor used to prepare with Vitaly Minakov and Vladimir Mineev. In twitter, Fedor wrote that he didn't train with them, but there are lots of pics proving that it is not so. There are interviews with them talking about the camp with Fedor. That was the exact thing I told many journalists that called me right after his tweet. He said that we made mistakes, but never explained what exactly was wrong.
“I told the journalists that it is really hard to get the true info about Fedor because his team and press service never brings him to interviews and never gives any comments. So we have to search for it ourselves.
“I denied everything.”
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