Ahmed Mujtaba relishes training with Russian killers at AKA

Ahmed Mujtaba couldn’t ask for better training partners for his upcoming fight against Sage Northcutt at ONE Fight Night 10: Johnson vs. Moraes III on Prime Video.

The Pakistani mauler went through the wringer at the famed super gym American Kickboxing Academy, and he went at it against some of the best Russian fighters on an everyday basis.

One of the fighters that Mujtaba gets to train with constantly is Saygid Izagakhmaev.

Mujtaba, in an interview with ONE Championship, said that he’s formed a deep friendship with the No.3 lightweight contender and this allowed him to learn from some of the other Russian fighters in the gym.

Ahmed Mujtaba said:

“To be the best you have to train with the best. If you want to be a lion, you have to train with lions. These Russian guys are lions. I’m very confident with these guys because they understand me and I understand them as well. We are on the same path and we have to achieve our [goals].”

Mujtaba, who’s currently outside the top five lightweight rankings, is coming off two straight first-round finishes. He could make it a hat-trick when he takes on Sage Northcutt.

The 30-year-old scored a vicious knockout win over Rahul Raju at ONE: Unbreakable III, then submitted Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Abraao Amorim in his last match in November 2022.

If Mujtaba can take a dominant win over ‘Super’ Sage, then he may make his case to enter the stacked lightweight rankings.

ONE Fight Night 10 is ONE Championship’s first on-site event in the United States and is set for May 5 at 1stBank Center in Colorado. The entire card is available live and for free to all Prime Video subscribers in North America.