Iranian wrestling star Amir Aliakbari faces tough test in former title challenger Mauro Cerilli

ONE 161 is looking increasingly stacked with ONE Championship revealing a handful of bangers today, including a heavyweight clash between Amir Aliakbari and Mauro Cerilli.

Aliakbari is a world champion Greco-Roman wrestler and arrived in the organization last year with a 10-1 record as well as a fearsome reputation. However, the veteran was given a rude awakening inside the circle as he suffered back-to-back knockout losses at the hands of Kang Ji Won and Anatoly Malykhin in his first two outings.

In hindsight, the 34-year-old could be accused of looking past his previous opponents. Malykhin would go on to become the ONE interim heavyweight world champion and needed less than three minutes to put Aliakbari away in a turn of events that clearly came as a surprise to the wrestling powerhouse.

Before the fight, he'd told the official ONE website:

“None of these guys are on my level. They are not even on the level of my pinky, and I’ll show that. I’ve won world titles, and these guys haven’t even gotten third place, so they don’t know what they are talking about. They are daydreaming, and when they see me in the cage — starting with Anatoly — they’ll wake up real quick.”

It's easy to see why Aliakbari had been so confident, as seven of his 10 victories had come via knockout.

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Will Amir Aliakbari bounce back against Mauro Cerilli?

Cerilli will be another big test for the Tehran-born grappler. The Italian is a former world champion in Cage Warriors and is coming off a knockout victory against Abdulbasir Vagabov in his last fight. His only losses since 2015 have come against then-world champion Brandon Vera and current world champion Arjan Bhullar.

Both men have the potential to challenge for the belt in the near future. As well as racking up dominant victories outside of ONE Championship, 'Triple A' is a big star and boasts more than two million followers on Instagram alone.

Given the respective history of the two fighters, it appears very unlikely that this bout will go the distance. Furthermore, both men will need a big result here to re-establish themselves as serious contenders to Bhullar's throne.

It's a significant night for the division as a whole, with fellow heavyweight stars Kirill Grishenko and Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida doing battle on the main card.