After his defeat literally at the hands of Ross Hanson, I was able to catch up with Aleksandr Baranov in the House of Khan locker room. While he was frustrated at the outcome, Baranov didn't seem too hard on himself. With age against him in this sport, he seems to understand that these sort of set backs are likely to happen. I covered a few questions with the Heavyweight fighter:
On his loss at GCC8 against Ross Hanson:
"Ross was well-prepared for me. His takedowns despite my preparation for them were the killer in this fight. I hope this mean he will fight Alejandro Rivera for title and he wins because I am not even near finished. A loss is a set back, but setbacks are acceptable; forfeit is not. As for tonight, congratulations to Hanson on the win."
On Aleksandr Baranov's future plans in GCC:
"As I said, this is not the end. Tonight, I lose to Ross Hanson, but I will watch film and fix mistakes. House of Khan is not considered an elite gym because its fighters quit at the first sign of trouble. Our gym as a whole had a bad night tonight, but we will recover from it. I will be back in that octagon soon, and I will correct the mistakes made tonight."