ONE Championship: Akbar Abdullaev wants Tang Kai title shot next, will "keep crushing" after brutal Fight Night 22 KO

Akbar Abdullaev continues his tear through the ONE Championship featherweight ranks and now has his sights set on gold. The Kyrgyz extended his record to 11-0, ending Halil Amir's own undefeated streak and handing him his first loss with a devastating knockout at ONE Fight Night 22 in Bangkok last Saturday.

It was a third win – all by knockout – in the martial arts promotion for Abdullaev, and he feels he may be ready to skip the queue for a shot at Chinese champion Tang Kai.

The 26-year-old Abdullaev told Sportskeeda backstage at Lumpinee Stadium:

"As for my plans, I’m just going to keep crushing, I’m going to keep moving forward. I want to be the best. I don’t want to say much but at the same time, I want to fight with Tang Kai."

Abdullaev, who dispatched South Korea's Ho-taek Oh on debut in March 2023 before finishing Ecuador's Aaron Canarte in 41 seconds last July, is now almost certain to shoot into the top five in the divisional rankings.

He may have to navigate his way past former champions Thanh Le and Martin Nguyen, as well as former title challengers Garry Tonon and Ilya Freymanov, before he can earn his shot at gold.

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Abdullaev secures the bag

But for now, Abdullaev is US$50,000 richer, at least, having earned the only performance bonus of the night in Bangkok. Smiling from ear to ear, he added:

"You know, it’s really difficult to describe everything I feel in words. I have so many feelings about this. I'm really happy. Those moments in my life and other people’s lives, they don’t happen often."

Turkey's Amir was making his debut at featherweight in ONE, having previously been ranked in the top five at lightweight, where he quickly racked up three wins, two of them by knockout.

Akbar Abdullaev gets his hand raised by referee Herb Dean.

He appeared somewhat drained, however, and later revealed he developed a staph infection in his foot two weeks before the fight.

Abdullaev showed something to his opponent and suggested he may be better off returning to 170 pounds in ONE rather than cutting to 155.

"It’s difficult for me to say anything. It’s all up to him and his team. He was pretty good in his current weight. If he decides to go back to the previous weight then good, but they’re going to decide."

He added:

"Both of us had zero losses, now his zero does not exist. So now zero is mine. I stopped him."