Although you can’t really tell from the banner picture, Alexander Shlemenko is a fair haired fighter. He’s not platinum blonde by any means, he’s more of a dirty ash like blonde. That means that this article I am writing is about a fighter with light colored hair. Sherko, (one of our beloved readers) has brought to my attention his concern that I might only show love and write articles about ‘dark haired’ fighters. That would insinuate that I am against blondes and gingers. That’s absolutely preposterous and I can tell you why.
The fact is there are just statistically less blondes and gingers in this world than there are brunettes. This means there are even less fair haired fighters for me to write about. Besides that, I told you guys all about the Finland MMA season back in September and it is proven that Finland has the highest population concentration of naturally blonde adults in the entire world. That means I’ve probably written about more light haired fighters than anyone else on MiddleEasy. I happen to love blonde hair. I even pay someone every six weeks to magically lighten my own hair. I hope that helps ease your mind, Mr. Sherko.
Now let’s talk about this particular blondie, Alexander Shlemenko. He talked to valetudo.ru recently and was asked his opinion on the rash of injuries plaguing the UFC as of late. Here’s the english translation shared by Anton Gurevich at Lowkick.com
“I can tell you for sure, 100%, I know why there are so many injuries. I personally find UFC fights not as exciting because of all those injuries. There are a lot of background tactics around who’s fighting who; fighters are trying really hard to have a good record in the UFC. If you’ve been offered to fight someone who’s considered a bad match-up, then it’s pretty easy to say ‘hey, I’m injured’. For example, they offered Brian Stann to fight Hector Lombard. He got injured, and then the next thing you know – he’s fighting Michael Bisping. I can see the logic – for Brian Stann it makes more sense to fight Bisping, he’s simply more popular in the UFC than Hector Lombard. That’s why beating Bisping means more than beating Lombard, who’s a risky opponent.You can fake every injury. Just tell [UFC doctors] about the symptoms and that’s it.”
I would think Shlemenko has caused his fair share of fighter injury faking. It takes a pretty tough person to want to get in the cage or ring with him and willingly get your chin crushed by a raging spinning backfist. [Source]
