Amir Aliakbari says win easy over Dustin Joynson a result of six months of hard work

Amir Aliakbari’s work didn’t begin when he stepped in between the ropes at the hallowed Lumpinee Boxing Stadium.

Before his match against Dustin Joynson was even announced, Aliakbari was already breaking pads and hitting bags.

That hard work ultimately paid dividends when the Iranian bruiser forced Joynson to tap out to vicious ground and pound at ONE Fight Night 12 this past week in Bangkok.

In his post-fight interview, Aliakbari said he trained for half a year preparing for his showdown against the Canadian big man. Throughout that grueling six-month period, Aliakbari said it was his coach Alireza Esteki who put him through the wringer.

Aliakbari said:

“Fortunately, I had the chance after the previous I mean, during the previous six months, I had a very consecutive practice, especially in boxing. With my coach Ali, we did great. And that was the result that you see this morning. It was six months of hard work and practice and the result was today.”

Aliakbari is now on an incredible run of form winning three straight matches.

The former UWW Greco-Roman Wrestling world champion started his ONE Championship tenure with back-to-back losses.

Despite his lackluster start, Aliakbari racked up three straight finishes against Mauro Cerilli, former ONE heavyweight world champion Brandon Vera, and most recently, Joynson.

Those three wins also catapulted Aliakbari to a possible shot at ONE heavyweight world champion Anatoly Malykhin.

Interestingly, Malykhin was the last person to beat Aliakbari in ONE Championship and the 35-year-old wants nothing more than to avenge that loss.

It’s still unclear if Malykhin will face Aliakbari in his next bout. ‘Sladkiy’ also holds the ONE light heavyweight world title and he’s been adamant in his plans of dropping to another weight class and challenging Reinier de Ridder for the ONE middleweight world title.

Watch Aliakbari's entire interview below: