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ONE Championship shared a compilation of Amir Aliakbari’s impressive run in the promotion.
Aliakbari made his ONE debut in March 2021 with a professional MMA record of 10-1. Things didn’t start as planned for the Iranian wrestler, as he suffered back-to-back first-round knockouts against Kang Ji Won and Anatoly Malykhin.
Since then, Aliakbari has separated himself as a potential future world champion in the ONE heavyweight MMA division. Firstly, he started with a second-round TKO against Mauro Cerilli in August 2022. Nearly three months later, he returned and secured a first-round TKO against former ONE heavyweight MMA world champion Brandon Vera.
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Aliakbari last fought at ONE Fight Night 12 and faced Canadian Dustin Joynson. The 36-year-old Iranian continued his reign of terror by dominating Joynson before winning by first-round knockout, pushing his promotional record to three straight wins.
ONE recently paid tribute to Aliakbari’s promotional success by sharing a compilation on YouTube of his three KO/TKOs. The social media post was captioned:
“Before Iranian colossus Amir Aliakbari collides with former ONE Heavyweight MMA World Champion Arjan Bhullar at ONE 166: Qatar on March 1, relive his monster knockouts in ONE so far!”
What’s next for Amir Aliakbari?
On March 1, ONE Championship will travel to the Lusail Sports Arena in Qatar for ONE 166.
Most of the attention will go to the main event rematch between ONE light heavyweight and heavyweight MMA world champion Anatoly Malykhin and ONE middleweight MMA world champion Reinier de Ridder. With that said, several fighters, including Amir Aliakbari, plan to make a statement on the undercard.
Aliakbari’s sixth opponent under the ONE banner will be former heavyweight MMA world champion Arjan Bhullar. ‘Singh’ will be extra motivated to emerge victorious at ONE 166, as he’s coming off a third-round TKO loss against Malykhin for the undisputed heavyweight MMA throne.
Nothing has been confirmed by ONE Championship, but the winner between Aliakbari and Bhullar could earn a heavyweight MMA world title shot. Both fighters have suffered a loss against Malykhin, but they might have to wait for a rematch, as ‘Reug Reug’ Oumar Kane is also a potential world title challenger.
