“I’m ready for the title shot” - Kyrgyz monster Akbar Abdullaev says he’s just a phone call away from a world title fight
Akbar Abdullaev is shooting his shot at ONE Championship gold. The Kyrgyz wrecking machine completed another scintillating knockout when he sent Halil Amir to the shadow realm in their featherweight MMA matchup at ONE Fight Night 22 this past weekend.
Abdullaev is now at 3-0 in his ONE Championship run, with all three of his wins coming by way of knockout.
In his post-fight interview, Abdullaev said he's ready to challenge Chinese superstar Tang Kai for the ONE featherweight MMA world title.
"You know, I didn't think about this much. Like, as I said before, I'm ready for the title shot," said Akbar Abdullaev.
While ONE Championship has some of the most intense fighters in all of combat sports, Abdullaev looks to have established his own plane of knockout power.
The match he had against Amir was the first time in his ONE Championship career that Abdullaev saw the second round.
Making his knockout power all the more exquisite, Abdullaev's first two matches in the promotion never reached the one-minute mark.
Abdullaev, however, didn't showcase his knockout power early in his duel with Amir. 'Bakal' instead used his grappling to subdue Amir and tire the Turkish slugger out as much as possible.
This approach continued into the second, but Abdullaev ultimately decided to launch his nuclear left hand that knocked Amir out cold 2:52 into the round.
ONE Fight Night 22 is available on free replay to all Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada.
Akbar Abdullaev proud to showcase his underrated grappling game against Halil Amir
Fans never had a chance to see Akbar Abdullaev's grappling in his first two fights in ONE Championship, but they finally had the opportunity this past weekend.
Abdullaev, a natural striker, dominated Amir with his wrestling for much of the contest and practically negated 'No Mercy's offense in the first round.
In his in-ring interview with ONE Championship commentator Mitch Chilson, Abdullaev said he always had the grappling game on point since he trains all aspects of mixed martial arts:
"[When it comes to] grappling, I am an MMA fighter. I need to do everything. I need to work with my hands, I need to work with my legs, and of course, I need to grapple. So it's like I'm ready for everything. Let them come," said Abdullaev.