Sasha Kane Biography

Fighters who is Sasha Paratnikov - the first fighter from Hong Kong to the UFC International family, a professional career in Rugby, returning to Krasnoyarsk and other facts from the amazing life of an unusual beginner of the organization. Both fighters debut in the largest world organization, but one of the first battle will forever enter its name in the history of the UFC.

The fact is that Sasha Palatnikov will be the first fighter from Hong Kong that ever went into the octagon. And if now you have a slight bewilderment about the fact that a person with a Russian surname will do it, now we will try to explain everything. Who is Sasha Paratnikov very often we hear the expression “citizen of the world”, and it is unlikely that the UFC has a fighter who is better suited than Sasha Palatnikov.

Sasha was born in Hong Kong in the family of Russian hi-diver jumping into water from extreme heights and a Scottish hairdresser. And the additional charm of this story is given by the fact that Palatnikov’s parents met in South Africa during the World Expo International Exhibition. Obviously, with such a background, Sasha was doomed to become a maximum multicultural person.

And so it happened-at different times, Palanikov managed to live in Hong Kong, Australia, Canada, the United States and even return to his father’s historical homeland for some time. All this happened thanks to sports, and it is not only about mixed martial arts. He played at the rugby at a professional level and could play for the Russian national team since childhood of the tents, was a rather active child - at the age of 5 the boy went to engage in karate, and a year later he came to his first rugby training session.

A little later, basketball, Muay Tay and Boxing were added to these sports, but all Sasha’s thoughts and plans were connected with the rugby. In an interview with South China Morning Post, the pans admitted that he had never planned to become a professional fighter. At the age of 12, Sasha finally stopped enjoying karate and quit engaged in this sport, completely focusing on rugby and football.

And for a long time this decision has fully justified itself-at the age of 14, Palanikov already played professionally for a football team from the Hong Kong district of Happy Walley and earned not the largest, but still his personal money. To continue training in high school, Sasha went to Australia, where he quickly signed a contract with a local team. After a while, Palanikov graduated from high school and suddenly got the opportunity to visit the historical homeland of his father.

Moreover, in his hometown. During one of the matches for a guy with an unusual surname for these places, representatives of the Krasnoyarsk team “Yenisei-Stm”, one of the strongest rugby clubs in Russia, drew attention to the name. A few days later, Summer Sasha received a contract and began to prepare for the largest adventure in his life. Russia met Palanikova by cold and his own reality, but the guy adapted quite quickly-after a couple of months, Sasha spoke good Russian and felt very well in the team.

In an interview with Sport-Express, the former rugby player warmly recalled his trip to the Russian North. Although it was not easy for me, I was only 18 years old then, and experienced professionals were nearby, some played the World Cup, this is a very high level. But still [it was] a happy time for me, because I received money for what I like to do. I liked Russian cuisine: barbecue, borsch, all these things that are popular in Russia.

On weekends, the guys took me on trips to the mountains, we drank vodka, fried barbecue, everything was very cool. I was mistaken for their own, the guys met my father, a wonderful time, I enjoyed them. " At some point, before Palanikov, the prospect was loyal for a long time to linger in Russia, when representatives of the National Rugby team came to him and offered assistance with obtaining Russian citizenship.

Sasha doubted and eventually decided to refuse, because he was not sure that he wanted to stop his adventure and connect the near future with the historical homeland. After a short trip to Russia, Palanikova went to Canada to receive higher education. There, Sasha had to switch first to Canadian, and then to American football. Russian from Hong Kong again quickly adapted to new conditions, showed himself well in games at the level of colleges and suddenly moved to the United States.

Palanikov set himself the goal of getting the NFL National Football League, but for various reasons this did not happen. Sasha did not be sad for too long and quickly switched to mixed martial arts. Palanikov firmly believed that once he could try his hand at the UFC, and the guy immediately began to take his first steps to the cherished goal-Sasha resumed training on shock equipment, took up the struggle, a little later he added Jiu-Jitsu to this and soon debuted in amateurs.

But the first professional fight had to wait almost 9 years.However, at this time, Palanikov did not have to sit idle. I wanted to break through to the Olympics in the year Sasha became the champion of Hong Kong in boxing among heavyweights and seriously thought about getting to the Olympic Games. The local government did not support this idea due to the lack of Chinese roots, and the Paratnikov again switched to Rugby.

As we already know, at some point it did not work out with this either, and it turned out that all the roads led Sasha in MMA. He conducted the first professional battle at 28 and suffered early defeat after the final end of his career in the regret of the tent, weighed KG and he needed time to get used to the specific training of the MMA fighter. Six months later, Sasha showed 95 kg on the scales and progressed with a shock pace thanks to regular training in the legendary Blackzilians hall in Florida.

But the first professional fight had to wait until 28 years-in an interview with Sport-Express, Palanikov said that the rivals refused to fight him, and so continued for 16 months. At the end of March, Sasha was offered to accept a fight with a heavyweight on a two -week notice. Palanikov agreed and began his career with early defeat. In the Asian promotions, the affairs of the beginning of the fighter were much better - Palanikov won four victories in a row and won the belt in the organization of AFC in middleweight.

In the next battle, in October last year, Sasha went to Abu Dhabi, where he encountered another future UFC fighter Munir Lazeze and suffered a second defeat in his career. Along the way, the Palanikov underwent the operation on the knee, but quickly recovered and already in September of this year closed a recent defeat, dealing with Paulo Enrique in 83 seconds.

Unfortunately, I failed to achieve this in Hong Kong. Therefore, my number one priority was the move to Las Vegas, the operation on the knee and further stability in the training process. After that, everything fell into place. The goal was also to be here in Las Vegas, in case one of the fighters withdrew from the battle. It was difficult to predict something in the midst of the pandemic, but I knew that at the moment the number of international flights was limited in the United States, and therefore the UFC has a certain pool of fighters who could go to replace and fight.

” And it worked.

In an interview with the South China Morning Post, the pans admitted that he did not expect such a rapid development of events even in the most daring dreams. I did not expect it to happen so quickly. But I am very excited. This is the goal that I set more than 10 years ago, and finally reaching it is amazing. ” This weekend, the pansisplelers debut in the largest world organization and will be able to meet with Dana White to remind him of one conversation.

There, the young fighter managed not only with his own eyes to see the main super-stars of the industry and get a joint photo with Conor McGregor, but also quickly talk to Dana White, President of the UFC. In an interview with Sport-Express, Sasha recalled that meeting as follows. Follow me. " He was very friendly: "Oh, it's nice to meet, very cool." I understood that he would not remember me, but, in any case, four years later I was in the UFC.

” On the night of Saturday to Sunday, Sasha will meet with the undefeated Louis Kosi and will get the opportunity to even better be remembered not only by the President of the UFC, but to the whole world. Photo: Instagram. Even more cool stories from UFC Russia:.