At 35 years old, Siyar Bahadurzada has been there and done that in combat sports and in life. That experience and knowledge is priceless, and he expects that such gifts, along with his fists and feet, will lead him to victory over 23-year-old Ismail Naurdiev this Saturday in Copenhagen.
That doesn’t mean he’s forgotten what it means to be 23.
“When I was that age, I wouldn't even knock on the door, I would just walk through the walls,” Bahadurzada laughs. “That's the kind of mentality I had back then. When I was 23, I became the Shooto champ and I was knocking people out within a minute and then I got into the title fight in Japan and I literally beat up the champion (Shiko Yamashita).