Nicholas Maximov looking forward to facing Adam Fugitt at Submission Underground 14
Nicholas Maximov talks to us about his preparation for his fight against Adam Fugitt. He is coming off of a loss at Submission Underground(SUG) 13, and sat down to speak to the Fightlete Report to discuss his next fight and the challenges leading up to it.
Despite the global COVID-19 pandemic, Submission Underground is hosting its second event within the past two months. SUG 14 is taking place in Portland, OR on May 31. Nicholas Maximov is representing the Nick Diaz Academy at his second subsequent SUG appearance. His opponent is Adam Fugitt, who is representing Art of War MMA.
SUG works under a different set of rules compared to various MMA competitions; the rounds themselves are only five minutes long, and are submission only. Maximov sat down to speak to the Fightlete Report to discuss how his training and preparation has differed from his previous fightin April.
“The training is better than it was for my last Submission Underground. Everything is starting to open up,” said Maximov. “Last time I was scratching at everyone’s face to get a workout in, and now everything is good to get.”
Maximov is training at the Nick Diaz Academy, which lends itself to the tremendous legacy of the Diaz brothers. Maximov is taking care to learn from Nick and Nate without emulating them too much.
“I want to have their style, but I wanna get a piece of everyone’s style that I like and kind of put it in a box. I want to be as durable as they are, but I want some of this and that person’s style and then shake it up. If I try to emulate their style too much, I think it might not work for me personally.”
Maximov has also credited his gym with helping to change his perception and motivation in fights.
“It kinda made me more of the mentality where I gotta kill the person rather than squeak by,” said Maximov. “Even before I went there, I was finishing everybody, but in Jiu-Jitsu, it has given me the mentality of like ‘I gotta tap everyone out’ that way there is nothing to be disputed.”
In addition to Jiu-Jitsu, Maximov has also added running, swimming, and biking to his workout routine.
In response to the COVID-19 Epidemic, Submission Underground has taken necessary precautions to ensure the health of the fighters. These include testing the fighters and not allowing any spectators inside the building.
“There is only like five people in the venue,” said Maximov. “Sometimes the crowd is good because they can give you that momentum, that push. I enjoy having fans there, not having them there is like practice. It’s just different.”
Maximov also spoke about his strategy for the fight and how he believes it differs from other fighter’s.
“I’m not there to just win in overtime like some of those dudes,” Maximov said. “Some of those dudes survive until overtime and think they’re all tight because they do that. I’m like nah, I want to do some flying sh-- or something. Get crazy, seeing a 220 lb dude go in the air would be tight.”
Maximov is facing off against Adam Fugitt on May 31 at 3 pm. The fight is available on UFC Fight Pass only.
Written by: Patryk Stepien