12 hours in the life of the most powerful woman in Russian MMA

The UG’s man on the ground in Chechenya, Boris Dealon, spends the day with Natalia Bulanova.

If you ask an MMA fan in America to name the first woman in the sport that comes to mind, the answer will probably be Ronda Rousey. Miesha Tate and Cris Cyborg are on the list, too. However, if you ask an MMA fan in Russia, the answer will be Natalia Bulanova. She has never fought, but she knows more fighters than anyone.

Bulanova is the founder of Nota Bene, the premiere PR-agency in Russia specializing in combat sports and mixed martial arts. Bulanova directs PR for the stand up shows Legend and Fight club #1, the MMA show ACB, plus fighters Alexander Emelianenko, Sergey Kharitonov, Artur Kishenko, Djabar Askerov, Magomed Malikov and Mikhail Malyutin. And that’s not a full list of her projects at all. No big event in Russian martial arts happen without Natalia; she’s always in sight, either as an organizer or as a guest.

I met Natasha three years ago a Thai boxing championship that was taking place in Saint-Petersburg. Ever since we’ve been meeting each other at tournaments, press-conferences, and autograph sessions and even worked together on the third Milanese Legend. Our relationship transformed from professional ones to a friendship, so a chance to spend an entire day with her seemed to be an exciting journey that promised a good time.

We meet up in the lobby of the hotel National in downtown Moscow. Natalia greets me with a nod and smile, simultaneously on one phone and typing something on other. The two iPhones are permanent companions; it would be unusual to see her without them.

There is an international MMA event in Chechnya called Gorznaya Bitva. Fabricio Werdum, Frank Mir, and Chris Weidman are special guests. They arrived in Moscow and are upstairs resting.

“I coordinate their journey,” she explained. “The organizers of the tournament turned to Ruslan Suleimanov to help to get the fighters here. The fighters have already been at the Legend, that’s why we have their contacts. At first Ruslan was doing organization of their journey but he went to a planned journey to France and charged me to do it. Tickets booking, flights connecting – that’s my competence. I’m like a link between the athletes and the organizers of the Chechen tournament and I’m flying to Grozny too in order to resolve questions that can show up.”

Natasha got into combat sports by accident. After graduating from college she ran into a vacancy for a PR-manager for an energy drink. The drink was owned by M-1 Global founder Vadim Finkelstein.

“At first my boss doubted my abilities,” she recalled. “He thought that I was a fragile and vulnerable girl. They gave me a month of work, but I showed a result in a week already. I had worked on that project for eight months, and I was even assigned as an executive director, but I had to leave because of my own reasons.”

Months of rest and inaction made Natasha realize that life without work is boring, dark, and monotonous. She started doing PR for Alexander Emelianenko, who at that point wasn’t known that well.

The effect from her work was felt immediately.

“Alexander’s wife had been calling me saying that there were fans coming to their apartment very often asking to take a picture with him and give and autograph,” recalled Natalia. “And this is the merit of people’s love.”

Around that time Vadim Finkelstein offered Natasha the position of PR director for M-1 League.

“The first year was very tough,” she said. “M-1 held 12 tournaments a year, and this was endless and non-stop work. But that experience became a base for all I have now. I liked to work under Vadim’s direction, he’s a genial boss. He would never raise his voice, he would rarely criticize and make comments, but all of us were ready to do whatever it takes to get his approval.

6:40 ??

Mikhail Rezler joins us in the lobby, Rezler is a translator and guide in cultural (and not so much) places of the country. Because of Legend he is in touch with a lot of fighters and today’s task is to help with transportation to the hotel and on-time organization for the athletes. Werdum, Mir, and Weidman with their managers are arrive after a few minutes. There’s a liveliness in the hall – people recognize the stars, ask them for an autograph, and take a picture.

One older Italian is asking me in broken Russian “When are they fighting and where is the tournament will be?”

I explain they are just in transit.

“They don’t fight, they’re flying to Chechnya as special guests at the tournament of Ramzan Kadyrov,” I explain.

Misha and Natasha are discussing plans.

“Now the athletes will have dinner and then you will take them to the Red Square,” she says. “We will meet up on this place in a couple hours.

Natasha and I are headed to her car. We will have a ride to the other neighborhood of Moscow – we need to take gifts for the fighters.

“I will give them matryoshka,” she says. “I ordered them from a girl that lives in Saint-Petersburg. She came here today specially to bring them. Each matryoshka has its own concept: for example Frank Mir is in the image of Yury Gagarin, Fabricio Werdum is a sailor from the battleship Potemkin, and Chris Weidman is a typical Russian man in a hat with ears and with balalaika.”

During work in M-1 a lot of friends started to turn to Natasha more often with PR-issues, and Natasha herself started to think about founding her own business.

“I didn’t like the status of an employee,” she said. “I wanted to work for myself. Of course you get used to stability really quick but it makes you weak. I remember when I founded my own PR-agency I thought that I made something significant, decent, incredible. Now I understand that I didn’t do anything extraordinary. Many people found their own business and have the same problems that I have but my merit is that my agency has been existed for five years already and we always grow and improve.”

We’re headed to Leningradskiy railway station. Natasha is driving, watching the road on the car navigation, and always typing messages and leaving audio notes on her phones.

Visits of top fighters, and organization of a tournament or a press-conference is the hottest time. For example, today’s visit of Werdum, Mir, and Weidman wasn’t announced anywhere. They’re flying to Chechnya, not to Moscow. But some fans already posted some of their pictures with the stars, and now everyone wants to message me and ask where they can find the athletes.

“How do you handle all this information flow?” I ask. “You always have your phones in your hands and at the same time watch the road and respond to calls and with all this you are able to concentrate on the conversation?

It was normal.

“I used to this pace,” she explained. “It’s regular for me. I just learned how to focus on really important things and not to think about secondary ones. Yes I don’t like these calls and messages, but I understand that it’s a part of my job and I have to deal with it. I’m never rude with people even though sometimes I want to be (laughs). I try to explain in a very polite way that I don’t have time for empty talks. In most cases they understand it well.”

I still don’t understand how she does it.

“It’s impossible to always live with this information noise around, when do you have rest from it?” I ask. “Do you have rest at all? I spent only 2 hours with you and they turned way more intense than all my yesterday.”

I’m afraid to imagine what we have waiting in the next ten hour.

“Of course I rest,” she replies. “I read, I do Thai boxing, I go to the beauty salon, to the movies. I catch up on sleep when I happen to have a day off. And, of course, my turned off phone makes it easier. The last two days were very stressful, because of organization of the fighters’ visit. But my pace of life is usually more balanced.

7:50 ??.

Natasha and I and Tatiana (the girl that painted the matryoshkas and brought them from Saint-Petersburg) are headed back to the downtown. Natasha’s phone is ringing again. I could tell from their conversation that it wasn’t a crazy fan dreaming to take a picture with the champs. They talk about serious things.

“Jon Jones was to come to the tournament,” she related. “But at the last moment it turned out that he had problems with his passport, so his trip was canceled. We have already tried to find some bypasses to bring him a couple times but it didn’t work out for us. Now the tournament organizers called and said that they are ready to give their personal plane but they check documents even on personal planes.”

8:30 ??

We’re in the lobby of the National hotel. Natasha is giving matryoshka to the athletes, Misha is explaining their concept. The champs are happy. Just an hour ago when they were walking they wanted to have matryoshkas and now they already are the proud owners of the original little figures with a picture of their on it.

Misha will take them out to see Moscow nightlife, they will probably go sit somewhere. At 6 o’clock we have our flight to Chechnya, so we have to do a lot of things by that time.

9:10 ??

We’re in Natasha’s car again. This time around we have to get a package with documents.

Boris Dealon: “Why can’t you send a courier?”

Natalia Bulanova: “My courier is busy right now,” she says. “Plus I have time to come home. Actually sometimes I probably do not do the right things in the context of business. For example I try to decrease my workers’ workload. Yes, it’s an extra burden that is on my shoulders but I think it’s better. It’s better my workers will be happy and full of energy rather than exhausted and not happy – they will have more motivation, more want to work.”

BD: “How do you find people and how many projects do you have now?”

NB: “Now my agency has eleven projects, I have seven people in the team. How do I find them? You know, all the significant people in my life found me themselves. For example, Inessa, my right hand lady, learned about me because of an article in the Cosmopolitan magazine. She called me, asked to go through the practice and in a week she showed me results that made me understand I will never let her go. If she ever think of leaving me I will stand by her windows and make a demonstration asking her to come back.”

10:00 ??.

We’re headed to the other side of Moscow to the office of Natasha’s agency to take the visiting cards. The office is located next to the Fight Club ?1 so Natasha is planning to discuss some questions with the owner.

BD: “Natasha, how do you think, on what level is marketplace of martial arts in Russia now?”

NB: “In Russia everything is only starting to grow, the industry is in the beginning yet. Yes, we’re starting to have more and more tournaments and federations but we’re yet really far from the USA and UFC for example. They were and still are the best in the business. In my predictions, Russia needs 3-4 years for the investments that are made by the organizers in the tournament started to bring any money. Now the main profit in martial arts in Russia is sponsorships. People aren’t used to paying for broadcasting, they don’t do it. You won’t get any money back from selling tickets: the most popular tickets are cheap but the expensive ones are not for sale, they are given to invited guests. It’s a Russian mentality.”

BD: “So what should we do? How to promote martial arts? Because it seems to be a vicious cycle: the industry depends on sponsors’ investments but no adequate sponsor won’t want to invest in an unknown, unclear and not popular product?”

NB: “That’s right. That’s why PR exists. And those who understand and realize its power will always be ahead from the rest. It’s not enough to be a good athlete and show good results, you have to know how to tell about it. That’s why, for example Jon Jones has always been and still is my favorite fighter that I always give as an example: he understands how it all works, what his popularity depends on. He understands that he’s a legendary champion not only because his own accomplishments but also because of the well coordinated work of his team and I know and I saw how he values his team. He always talk to his fans he gives attention to everyone, that’s why they love him.”

BD: “What do you think about trash talking? Great PR-tool and a lot of people on the West blow up because of it.”

NB: “Yes, it’s a great tool, but not for Russia. Once again, it’s that Russian mentality. In the West you talked trash about each other, had a fight, gave a hug to each other, laughed and that’s alright. The audience understand it and take it. It’s a bit different in Russia. Scandals, trash are not taken differently here, people don’t respect it here. I remember when I worked with Sergey Kharitonov, and Alexander Emelianenko said something bad about Sergey. And we had to get to choose: respond in the same way of not. I warned Sergey that if we respond to it then it will definitely increase his popularity but at the same time will cause a lot of criticism. We decided that we were ready to critiques. Kharitonov responded and his popularity started to take off instantly and a lot of people was saying that he should have not respond to that, to be rude. It was our circumspect PR move, that’s why we could afford to do it. Russians take it too serious. We’re not ready yet to this kind of radical PR-actions, that’s why I’m more a fan of classic PR without scandals.

10:50 ??

We’re parking the car near Natalia’s Moscow office, and she’s asking me to wait in her in the car for 10 minutes. Snejanna (Natalia’s Yorkshire terrier) and I have some time to rest. Snejanna has been with us all day and is a little bit tired by now. Natasha tries to take her everywhere with her (except significant negotiations, of course) and Snejanna has a very big collection of her pictures with celebrities.

“In jest we call her First & only MMA & K-1 dog in the world, says a laughing Natalia. “And a lot of fighters always threate me that they will steal her and won’t give back. Bob Sapp has almost eaten Snejanna one day.

11:10 ??.

We’re headed to Natasha’s apartment. On the way there we’re stopping to drink some coffee and rest a little.

BD: “You do thai boxing, have you ever thought about fighting?”

NB: “My trainers have, they always compliment my low kicks, maybe in order to get me in the ring. But I won’t fight, it’s not for women.”

BD: “So there’s no chance we see you in the ring?”

NB: “No. In terms of PR that fight would be a great chance to get popularity but I’m not ready. I actually don’t really like women fights. It’s unaesthetic. I respect women for their hard work (because training is a titanic work), that they found strength in themselves to get in the ring but me personally, I’m not ready for it.”

BD: “Do you watch the women’s division and women in martial arts?”

NB: “No, not really. I’m not interested it it. I know that there’s Ronda Rousey, for example. But her behavior outside of the cage and toward her opponents doesn’t appeal to me.

BD: “Who of the Russian fighters do you like? Talking about young prospects.”

NB: “I like Albert Tumenov, he’s coming along with UFC very well. And also can name Yusup Raisov.”

11:55 ??

We finally get to Natasha’s home, a beautiful, comfortable apartment. There is a big bed, a chair, a table, a computer, a lot of ornaments on the bureau, and books on the shelves. Typical apartment of a regular lady.

BD: “You have so many book, and a lot of contemporary literature, you have time for reading?”

NB: “Yes, on weekends and before bed I like to lay in bed with a book, and I also always take books with me to journeys – very useful when, for example, your flight is delayed for 5 hours.”

01:20 ??.

I’m drinking tea in Natasha’s kitchen, Snejanna is already sleeping. Natasha is packing her suitcase, at the same time sending messages on her computer and gives instructions to her workers on the phone. I’m trying not to distract her – every minute now is worth gold. I’m analyzing seven previous hours, amazed how correctly Natasha scheduled her time. We have never even been stuck in traffic which is surprising for Moscow. And what amazes me the most is how masterly she was maneuvering between endless flow of messages that people been sending her (even at 1:30 AM), workers, organizers, couriers, fans and others. All of a sudden I’m realizing that the cup of coffee that Natasha drank in my presence when we stopped at the parking – was the only food that Natasha have eaten since the moment we met up. I suggest to cook something, but get a refusal – no time for even a snack.

02:40 ??

We’re leaving Natasha’s apartment, putting the suitcase to the back of the car and going to the center. Natasha has an appointment for manicure at 3 AM.

NB: “Of course I don’t always get my manicure done at 3 AM but sometime you can only find time for things like this at night. It’s great that There are 24/7 beauty salons in Moscow! And just so you understand, they are successful. For example, I wanted to make an appointment on 2 AM but everything was already booked. It’s not a surprise that people in Moscow are all that evil (laughing).”

04:05 ??

We’re leaving the salon. Coffee isn’t affecting me anymore, but Natasha is looking fresh and cheerful.

NB: “I love all these night rides very much, these flights, all the stress, rush – with them you feel that you’re alive! Of course when I have a family, husband, children I will give up on this pace of like, so now I enjoy that moment.”

BD: “Are you satisfied with your life?”

NB: “Yes! (smiling widely) I’m totally happy! I have a job I love, I always talk to interesting people, I don’t have boring and ordinary people around me – all of them are talented, each one in their own business.”

Misha Rezler is calling and says that he brought the champs to the hotel and that they will be ready to head to the airport soon.

I’m flying on the plane with Weidman, Werdum and Mir in business class. Of course, I’d rather sleep this couple hours in some economy class but when will I have another chance to fly with the legends of this level?

04:45 ??

Natasha is leaving the car at the courtyard of her friend’s and calling for a taxi cab to take her to the airport.

The hardest thing is the fact that I haven’t slept and I won’t be able to do it until tomorrow night, because we will fly, then we will get around, then the reception, then the tournament and dinner after that…but it’s worth it!

Waiting on the cab I decided not to talk about big things and do a mini-interview.

BD: Morning or night?

NB: Night

BD: Tomato or cucumber?

NB: Tomato

BD: Favorite food?

NB: Barbecue

BD: Favorite drink?

NB: Dry red wine

BD: Favorite artist?

NB: Sade

BD: Favorite movie?

NB: Legends of the Fall

BD: Favorite actor?

NB: Brad Pitt

BD: Favorite actress?

NB: Natali Portman

BD: What is friend?

NB: Friend will always tell you the truth and needs nothing from you, he loves you the way you are.

BD: Three qualities that you value in people?

NB: Tenderness, charisma, strength of mind

BD: Three facts about you?

NB: I don’t sleep much. I inspire people. I’m kind (sometimes even too much)

BD: Who of the historical people would you like to have a conversation with?

NB: Peter 1st (I would ask him why he couldn’t build Saint-Petersburg in a more sunny place), with Salvador Dali, and with Marilyn Monroe

BD: If you had an opportunity to move to any place of the planet where would you move?

NB: Australia

BD: Favorite city?

NB: Moscow

BD: What in your past would you change?

NB: I’d make my parents worry less

BD: – What would you tell to 13 years old You?

NB: Get the braces now! (laughing)

The cab is finally showing up. We decided that I won’t go to the airport with Natasha – it’s not comfortable for me, plus I feel exhausted. We’re saying goodbye and thank each other for the time that we spent together, then she gets in the cab and goes to the airport. That’s how the day of Natalia Bulanova ended up and I happened to be a part of it. We spent about 11 hours together and those were incredibly intense 11 hours, we would never sit with no business, we would always go somewhere, discuss something, resolve some issues and problems. I still find it amazing how she can do so much things and sleep and eat that little, and keep looking good… Natalia can do that. And after all that I saw I don’t find it weird that the most popular girl in Russian MMA is exactly she. It would be weird if it wasn’t she.

About the author:

Boris Dealon is the founder of the popular Russian language Internet MMA portal MMAboxing.ru, a journalist, tournament organizer, and plans soon to extend his talents into fighter management.

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