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Denis Saplinkov is often painted as the villain in a matchup. His upcoming match with Devin is no
different. Of course, Denis was the bigger guy last time and he beat up on Devin pretty bad.
And again, this time, Denis is the bigger guy and is going into this match with a winning record
against Devin. Devin is painted as the hero underdog, trying to avenge his loss from 2018.
In some ways, Devin is the one trying to make the comeback against Denis. However, in this video,
I want to tell a different story. I want to talk about Denis' comeback. How in many ways,
Denis has more of the underdog story and how remarkable it is that he is even able to compete
in this match. Denis had a long, hard-fought battle against a plethora of health issues.
He may not be as invincible as he was 10 years ago, but either way, he is still about to compete
for debatably the number one rank in arm wrestling even after everything he went through. This video
will tell the story of Denis Saplinkov's incredible comeback to the sport of arm wrestling.
One of the common misconceptions when it comes to the perception of Denis Saplinkov is his age.
Even in 2023, during his comeback, Denis is surprisingly only 41 years old. When I think
of Denis' era, I often think of his matches with people like Jon Berzink or Richard Lovekies.
However, Denis is way, way younger than both of these guys. When Denis pulled Jon Berzink for the
first time in 2008, he wasn't even 30 years old yet. To be at the level Denis was at the age he
was and considering that he used to be only partially committed to arm wrestling is pretty
insane. This goes to show how impressive Denis was and is as an athlete. He rose through the
ranks so quickly even before he was doing much specialized training for arm wrestling. He was
still breaking strict girl records doing bench press, squats, and had a background in strongman.
He was nearly at the top of the sport and wasn't even a specialized athlete yet. And as we know,
soon after Denis' first victory over Jon, he became just about unbeatable. Even with very
suboptimal technique, he was just so overpowered that he would beat people in the ugliest lanes
imaginable and no one could figure out what to do. He was just way, way too strong. And this gap
only increased as the years went on. Against Andrei in 2014, Denis looked like a totally
different weight class. His shape compared to Andrei's shape is very, very different. And Andrei
is one of the best to ever do it. But Denis was still just way too strong, even without optimal
technique. Against Dave Chaffee that same year, we see more of the same. Denis' arm literally looks
like a leg. And it's probably as strong as one too. Denis looked like some crazy combination
of an arm wrestler, a strongman, and an IFBB pro all at the same time. And it just continued to
get crazier and crazier, all the way up until Denis' match with Devin Larratt in 2018. At this
point, Denis had started to train in a way that was more specific to arm wrestling. We saw him
incorporating things like back pressure and using cupping handles. And we saw Denis absolutely
demolishing records, especially in the area of back pressure. Many would agree that this version
of Denis is the strongest Denis we have ever seen, solely based off the insane lifts he was doing.
Denis managed 87kg on back pressure for multiple reps. At the time Denis did this lift, it was so
far above any of the competition that it wasn't even worth comparing. And of course, all of
Denis' preparation made for an easy victory against Devin Larratt, Denis once again displaying his
utter dominance. But unfortunately, Denis' highest peak was just before his lowest valley. In order
to reach the size that Denis reached, the insane amount of contractile tissue he had, and the
immense strength, there was a massive, massive toll placed on his body. And shortly after Denis'
victory over Devin, he started to have severe health issues. Issues that no longer allowed him
to train heavy, or really at all, for a long time after this. There isn't perfect clarity as to what
initially caused these problems, but the consensus seems to be that Denis was doing some very heavy
lifting and ended up rupturing a blood vessel. And of course, anything that Denis was taking at
the time couldn't have possibly helped the issue. Denis' blood pressure was already very high,
and combining this with the insane weights he was capable of lifting, proved to be a bit too much
for him to handle. Denis immediately had to stop his training after this occurred, and got surgery
just after. The surgeons performed a stent insertion procedure in order to fix the blood flow
issues Denis was having. A stent is a wire mesh tube that can be inserted into an artery in order
to structurally support it and maintain enough space for blood to flow correctly. The stent is
inserted into the artery with a tiny balloon inside of it. The balloon is then inflated,
causing the stent to expand and then lock into place, keeping the artery open so blood can flow.
Now if that sounds just a little bit sketchy, it's because it is. Trying to blast all the gear under
the sun, and in turn compete at the highest level in arm wrestling, is certainly not ideal when you
have a stent. And completely out of the question, without first taking plenty of time to recover.
Stents are not foolproof, and have been known to fail, but generally within the first 3-6 months
of surgery. And of course, the blood pressure increase from heavy PED usage would not be a
good idea either. And really, there wouldn't be any point in doing that anyway, since you can't
lift weights, or do anything that requires maximal exertion for a good long while afterward. And this
is why we saw such a drastic negative transformation from Dennis in such a short
period of time. Not only was Dennis forced to come off the majority or potentially everything he was
taking, but he couldn't even lift at all during this time. And to top it all off, Dennis began to
have nerve issues as well shortly after his surgery. This is why we started seeing one of
Dennis' eyes begin to function abnormally. Needless to say, Dennis was not in the best of circumstances
considering where he used to be. He went from being the undisputed champion of the world,
to someone who couldn't even lift a dumbbell in the blink of an eye. The vast majority of people
would have given up, although the vast majority of people would never have reached Dennis' level to
begin with. So of course, Dennis' arm wrestling story did not end here. Dennis started ever so
slowly nudging his way back into the sport. He was completely calculated and methodical. He didn't
rush anything, but instead was slow and steady. One thing you may notice about Dennis' comeback
is how relaxed he became on the table. Dennis was never all that explosive and violent of a puller,
but his lack of emotion became even more pronounced after the surgery. Dennis was constantly trying to
keep his blood pressure as low as possible. Throughout the beginning of Dennis' comeback,
we heard him talking about not pushing the speed of his climb back to peak strength. Dennis was
perfectly content to let it take however long it needed to. And all of Dennis' patience paid off.
Eventually, Dennis was able to get back to the level where he defeated John Brzenk 6-0 at King
of the Table. And it really didn't look that close. Dennis didn't quite have the finishing
power to just pinch on at will, but Dennis' stopping power in the center table was evident.
You could just see the difference in the facial expressions between Dennis and John
throughout this match. John is totally redlining and Dennis is just hanging out.
This victory was already highly impressive, but obviously it did not stop there. Dennis
continued to progress with his weights and his sparring. And now, in November of 2023,
Dennis Zaplenkov is about to compete for what may be considered the number one spot in the world.
I have to be honest, when Dennis first started talking about coming back to the sport,
the idea that he could ever get even close to the number one spot again
did not sound feasible. But somehow, Dennis made it happen.
Dennis Zaplenkov has one of the craziest comeback stories the sport of arm wrestling has ever seen.
Of course, other people have made comebacks, but I can't think of anyone who came back from as big
of a fall as Dennis had. It may not be your traditional comeback story, but it is a comeback
story nonetheless. Props to Dennis for fully demonstrating the heart of a champion.