Dmitry Menshikov gave up on football to pursue fighting

Dmitry Menshikov walked away from football in order to pursue combat sports, a decision he by no means regrets.

On Friday night, Menshikov will make his highly anticipated ONE Championship debut as the promotion returns to the iconic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium for ONE Fight Night 11 on Prime Video. Headlined by a ONE lightweight Muay Thai world title fight, Menshikov will immediately step into the spotlight to challenge two-division ONE world champion Regian Eersel.

Ahead of his first walk to the ONE Championship ring, Dmitry Menshikov sat down with the promotion to talk about his combat sports training that ultimately came about after deciding to walk away from his first love, football.

“After I entered the gym with my coach, Vitaly Viktorovich Miller, I had all opportunities to train, win, stick to a regimen, and do quality training, no problems whatsoever,” Menshikov said.

Today, Dmitry Menshikov is one of the most intriguing prospects to come out of Russia, which is quite a statement considering the amount of talent that has emerged from the country in recent years. So far, Menshikov has earned 27 career victories, with 19 coming by way of knockout. He will enter ONE Fight Night 11 riding an 11-fight win streak.

Like his opponent, Regian Eersel is riding the momentum of a lengthy winning streak, besting his last 21 dance partners, including nine straight inside the Circle. In fact, ‘The Immortal’ is yet to experience defeat under the ONE Championship banner. He’ll look to keep it that way in the Land of Smiles on Friday night.

Amazon Prime Video subscribers in North America can catch ONE Fight Night 11 live and for free in U.S. primetime on June 9.