Marat Grigorian on why top kickboxers have glorious beards: “You are getting ready to be like an animal”

Why is it that some of the world’s greatest kickboxers, such as Marat Grigorian, have the most glorious beards on fight night?

Chingiz Allazov. Davit Kiria. Giorgio Petrosyan. What do all these men have in common? Besides being some of the absolute best kickboxers in the world, they are all the owners of some of combat sports’ most beautiful beards. But why? What is the correlation between kickboxing supremacy and a bushy beard?

That is a question that combat sports fans have asked for years, and thanks to a recent interview with the three-time GLORY Kickboxing world champion Marat Grigorian, we may have an answer.

“I don't know. It's like, preparing for a fight is like getting ready for a war. You're not thinking of taking care of yourself. You’re getting prepared for everything. You are getting [ready to be] like an animal, you know? To put it out there. And yeah. It's not a model show. It’s a bit like Spartan, you know, something like that.”

On August 4, Marat Grigorian will return for a battle of the beards as he challenges reigning ONE featherweight kickboxing world champion Chingiz Allazov. The two icons are set to headline the promotion’s highly anticipated return to the legendary Lumpinee Boxing Stadium for ONE Fight Night 13 on Prime Video.

Allazov will be making his first defense of the title since shocking the world with a second-round KO against kickboxing GOAT Superbon Singha Mawynn. ‘Chinga’ has won four straight thus far and will look to add another to his already impressive list.

Amazon Prime Video subscribers in North America can catch all the action at ONE Fight Night 13 live and for free in US primetime on August 4.