MORE UFC Saint Petersburg: Fight by Fight Preview | Legends Lookback – Overeem
“Alessio Sakara was my idol when I started doing MMA,” said Amedovski. “I’m a striker too and he was a great source of inspiration for my early training in boxing. I was a huge fan of ‘Legionarius,’ as many Italians are, and last year, after my first win in Bellator, I finally met him at a photo shoot for a sports catalog and he was very humble with me, just a great human being. Now we are training together and he is coaching me too, along with our head coach Massimo Farina. I’m very lucky because I’m now friends with my idol and he’s teaching me a lot of technical tricks for my next fights.”
Sakara has also given Amedovski some helpful hints for dealing with life in the Octagon.
“He gave me a lot of advice. The first thing is to be myself, to believe in myself, to be humble, to be an athlete and to live my dream.”
The enthusiasm level of the 31-year-old is proof that he is living his dream right now, even if he didn’t initially believe he was going to be a part of the UFC roster when notified by manager Alex Dandi of the offer from the promotion.
“Alex, my manager, sent me a message with the great news,” Amedovski recalled. “He wrote, ‘I talked with UFC…you are in if you want to sign the agreement.’ I was thinking it was a joke; it took a few days for me to believe him. (Laughs) When I finally saw the agreement, I was the happiest man in the world. So it was a surprise, but it was always my dream since day one. It’s a great honor to be on the UFC roster and to prove myself with the greatest fighters in the world.”
Amedovski is excited and happy about his debut, he’s got two nations behind him, and one of his fighting heroes in his corner. It’s all good news for the family man from Rome. But then again, he is going from the regional circuit to fighting the terrors the UFC’s middleweight division has to offer. That’s got to be scary, but Amedovski is up for the challenge and finding out where he stands at 185 pounds.
