ONE Championship: Iranian heavyweight Aliakbari hopes to put his homeland on the martial arts map
- Aliakbari, who takes on ex-champion Arjan Bhullar at ONE 166, hopes to one day compete on a ONE Championship event in his native Iran
- A win against the Canadian could set up a title match against Russian reigning champion Anatoly Malykhin, who beat him previously
There is a sizeable contingent of fighters from the Middle East competing at ONE 166, and one of them hopes his continued success will see him competing in a similar event in his homeland.
Iranian heavyweight Amir Aliakbari, who is on a three-match winning streak, faces former heavyweight champion Arjan Bhullar at ONE 166, the first major global MMA promotion – produced by ONE Championship – to be held in Qatar.
“I am very happy to be part of this event and excited to fight in Qatar. Certainly, such an event happening in the Middle East contributes to the development of martial arts in the region. I really hope that ONE Championship one day comes to Iran.”
Aliakbari was expected to take ONE Championship’s heavyweight division by storm but things did not work out that way.
His ONE Championship career did not get off to a good start. He lost his first two fights, stopped in the opening round both times.
Before that, his only defeat had come at the hands of Mirko “CRO Cop” Filipovic in the final of the Rizin heavyweight Grand Prix.