Fedor Nikolov is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu competitor and co-owner and head instructor of 10th Planet Saint-Petersburg in Russia. As he is one to look out for in the future, we have interviewed him and asked him some questions about his rolling style, history, and future plans regarding everything BJJ.
Where are you from (hometown)?
Fedor: I was born in Saint-Petersburg, Russia, which is the most beautiful city in our country with a huge historical vibe.
What age did you start training BJJ?
Fedor: I started my martial arts journey in a Russian national martial art called Sambo at the age of 17 and since then I practiced a lot of different styles. I participated in my first Jiu-Jitsu tournament at the age of 22, so since then I started practicing pure Jiu-Jitsu and grappling techniques.
How did you get into grappling originally?
Fedor: While I started practicing Combat Sambo (which is basically MMA with the gi), my coach started teaching me some kind of chokes and different grappling techniques and I was excited about how many variations of different transitions between the number of submissions and positions there were. This sport is growing and has something new every day, that is what I like the most.
What age did you get your current belt?
Fedor: I got my purple belt under Eddie Bravo when I was 25
What is your favorite guard position/s?
Fedor: My favorite guard position for now is rubber guard, which I believe is an advanced level of guard game.
What is your favorite sweep/s?
Fedor: The Butterfly sweep is my favorite.
What is your favorite form of passing/favorite pass?
Fedor: My favorite guard pass is the Knee slice pass.
What is your favorite submission?
Fedor: My favorite submission is the Gogo clinch. It is the move when you put your ankle over the head of your opponent and close your arms under his neck. It looks freaky but it is super tough.
What gym do you train under?
Fedor: I represent 10th Planet jiu-jitsu. For now, I am staying in Los Angeles so I’m training in 10th Planet HQ.
What is/was your typical competition weight?
Fedor: I compete at 185 – 195 lbs
Do you have a current teacher?
Fedor: I am training under the legendary Eddie Bravo now. He promoted me to all the belts and I learned a lot from him.
What is your best achievement to date?
Fedor: I am the first and only Russian who competed at CJJ Worlds at this moment in time. As well, I’m an EBI veteran and High Rollerz champion. I am head of 10th Planet Saint-Petersburg academy and have won numerous tournaments like NAGA, Grappling industries end others.
What is your worst injury to date?
Fedor: I got surgery on my right knee after a meniscus injury, thankfully, for now, it’s the worst injury that happened to me, so its not that bad.
Who is the hardest opponent you’ve ever fought?
Fedor: Every loss in my career means that the opponent is hard to beat, and all of them were hard as f**k. One of the hardest matches in my life was against a Canadian black belt in judo on EBI 20. I got his arm in an armbar super extended two times during the match in regulation and OT. It popped out a lot, but he didn’t tap and won by the fastest escape in Overtime. That match was about 20 minutes of pressure and attacks from both sides and it was one of the hardest in my life for sure.
Most influential grappler on your style?
Fedor: The 10th planet system and Eddie Bravo himself influenced a lot of my style and me as an athlete.
Do you have any plans for the future? (Goals etc)
Fedor: My goal is to become CJJ Worlds and EBI champion, so the reason why I moved here thousands of miles from Russia is to make my dreams come true and achieve my goals. I just want to do what I love to do and be one of the best in the world in it.
Any other comments you want to be mentioned (if you want us to link to your gym website etc)?
Fedor: Subscribe to my Instagram @fyonesjitzu
Russia has often been associated with Sambo. These days what do you think is more popular in Russia, Sambo or BJJ?
Fedor: Sambo is still more popular, because it is the national sport, it is like BJJ in Brazil . Sambo has huge government support, they open Sambo schools where all the talented kids can train for free, so it makes it more popular among the masses. BJJ is becoming more popular in Russia year by year and it grows very fast for sure, but sambo is more popular still.
Speaking of Russia, why do you think the country is so historically successful in terms of past combat sports champions? (MMA, Judo, BJJ etc)
Fedor: I am pretty sure that because of Russian athlete’s spirit. It means a lot when we talk about MMA fights. You should be ready to go for it till the end. When we talk about judo or wrestling, it’s a part of the culture in some of the regions of Russia – people do it since they are kids, if you want to be a respected man in society, you have to practice at least one martial art. Martial arts are very appreciated in Russia.
Out of interest, why did you choose to represent 10th Planet BJJ instead of other affiliations?
Fedor: While I practice all BJJ techniques, I have mainly been doing only NO-GI, because it’s closer to MMA and more dynamic. So when I found out about 10th planet system, which focuses on the NO-GI style, I became super excited about training here.
I’ve seen you’ve trained with Eddie Bravo at the 10th Planet HQ – what is he like as a teacher?
Fedor: Eddie Bravo is an amazing and charismatic teacher with huge experience. He is a master and creator as well as an innovator in Jiu-Jitsu.
If you weren’t doing BJJ, what do you think you would be doing in life instead?
It’s a really hard question, I’m truly grateful that I found jiu-jitsu in my life. Some people can’t find what they love and they don’t know what they wanna do. I found it and it makes a lot of sense in my life. I probably would have tried another sport, ’cause I love the competitive spirit.
