‘Something That I Kind Of Needed’ – How Roman Kryklia Found His Rhythm On The Strings
Two-division, two-sport ONE World Champion Roman Kryklia hits incredibly hard for a living. Off the clock, the towering Ukrainian striker is still learning to strike the right acoustic chord.
The reigning ONE Light Heavyweight Kickboxing and ONE Heavyweight Muay Thai World Champion returns to action in the co-main event of The Inner Circle 19 on Friday, June 19.
Broadcasting live in Asia primetime from Bangkok’s iconic Lumpinee Stadium, he runs it back against ONE Heavyweight Kickboxing World Champion Samet “The King” Agdeve, who puts his gold on the line on a highly anticipated, subscriber-exclusive card available at live.onefc.com.
Away from his brutal bread and butter, a completely different kind of discipline has been quietly taking shape over the past five years.
The Ukrainian knockout machine picked up a guitar for the first time because every demanding fight camp requires an escape valve — a peaceful sanctuary where the mind can breathe and the body can simply exist without purpose or pressure.
The decision, as it turned out, would give him far more than just a new skill to work on.
Kryklia told onefc.com:
“I’m not really a good player. I was just interested in playing the guitar, maybe about five years ago. I found an instructor, and yeah, we started to work together.
“It was something new for me. But it was something that I kind of needed. Like after training, you need something to do outside the gym…some form of interests. Focusing on only one thing can make you tired, no matter how strong you are.”
Those private lessons have been taking place in Belarus, a place the 6-foot-7 powerhouse has called home since choosing to train under the guidance of legendary mastermind Andrey Gridin at just 21 years old.
Belarus has fostered more than just Kryklia’s historic fighting career. It represents a full life built on deep friendships, shared passions, and everything that exists between grueling gym sessions. It is within this rewarding lifestyle that the guitar has found its permanent place.
The 34-year-old continued:
“My guitar lessons are just private lessons, and I mainly play with a Spanish guitar [similar to a classical guitar] with nylon strings. After this, of course, I want to improve and move on to better guitars.
“But I still struggle with playing an electric guitar. I’m not so good at that, but I’m always trying to learn and improve. With training and other things, however, it’s hard for me to fully focus on that.”
Mastery, of course, does not arrive overnight. Kryklia understands this truth more than most, having spent decades meticulously constructing his world-class striking arsenal.
The progress on the fretboard has been gradual, and the technical frustrations have been entirely real. Yet, much like the sport that made him a dominant double champ, the instrument rewards only those willing to consistently show up.
For Kryklia, that is precisely what makes it worth pursuing:
“It’s important to have hobbies outside of fighting. It does get frustrating at times, but every time I play, I get better and better.
“That is what makes it special. You learn and improve. Even if it’s only a bit, you will always be better than you were yesterday.”
From One Song To A World Of Music
The initial spark that ignited his passion for the strings began with a single masterpiece. American jazz-fusion virtuoso Al Di Meola has long occupied a legendary place in Roman Kryklia’s personal musical rotation.
It was “Mediterranean Sundance,” Di Meola’s breathtaking 1977 acoustic duet with flamenco icon Paco de Lucía, that delivered the precise artistic awakening he could never forget.
The track, built on razor-sharp precision and two guitars locked in a flawless conversation, provided the ultimate inspiration.
He recalled:
“I love his solos. It was after that song that I really just felt like I wanted to try playing the guitar. The way [every note is struck] was really good. It sounded magical or special, I don’t know how to really describe it.
“Every time I play, or before I play, I always listen to his songs just to get in a rhythm. He’s one of my favorite guitarists.”
Di Meola sits comfortably at the top of the list, but Kryklia’s musical world stretches far beyond jazz-fusion and traditional flamenco.
His diverse taste runs exceptionally deep, rooted heavily in the golden age of classic rock, spanning icons like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Pink Floyd at one end, all the way to modern heavyweights like System of a Down and Slipknot at the other.
For the Ukrainian, that era is not just a preference — it is a standard.
Kryklia explained:
“Anyone who’s interested in starting to play music, I think, should start listening to stuff from this era, from the top groups from that period of music.
“I love a lot of music from that generation. It’s different from the ones that are playing today.”
Much of that musical sophistication can be directly traced back to a single defining relationship. When Kryklia first crossed paths with Andrey Gridin at the renowned Gridin Gym in Minsk, their connection was built entirely on combat sports.
Over the years, however, a second common bond emerged, built on a mutual love for vintage vinyl, legendary concert clips, and endless musical curiosity.
Gridin’s encyclopedic knowledge quietly became Kryklia’s own, turning a decorated World Champion into a devoted audiophile who approaches sound with the exact same deliberate attention he brings to world-class martial arts.
He concluded:
“My coach really likes music a lot. And from just only training, we started to share different videos of musicians, concerts, and so much more. Now, we also exchange vinyls, and he’s turned me into someone who really loves it [as a whole].
“I even have [different] headphones for certain genres of songs, and a hi-fi system at home that I use to listen to vinyls. It’s very interesting, being able to connect with him about something we genuinely love. It’s important in my life.”
