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Sanzhar Zakirov plans to fight at flyweight moving forward.
At ONE Fight Night 27, Zakirov made his flyweight debut and overcame the toughest test of his promotional tenure against Tatsumitsu Wada. The undefeated Uzbekistan-born fighter secured a unanimous decision win, extending his ONE Championship record to 4-0.
Zakirov's first three fights in ONE Championship took place in the strawweight division. Moving forward, the 21-year-old plans to continue fighting at flyweight to prevent a drastic weight cut, which he explained during an interview with Nick Atkin of the Bangkok Post:
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"I’m ready to fight. I’m ready to fight tonight, even. I’m gonna be back. One thing is, I want to go up to 61 kilos because this whole weight thing is really hard on me."
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The entire replay of ONE Fight Night 27, including Sanzhar Zakirov's unanimous decision win against Tatsumitsu Wada, can be seen for free by North American and Canadian viewers with an active Amazon Prime Video subscription.
Watch Zakirov's entire interview with Nick Atkin below:
Sanzhar Zakirov calls out Reece McLaren
Sanzhar Zakirov doesn't plan to waste any time now that he's committed to the ONE flyweight MMA division. Following his latest strawweight win, the undefeated 21-year-old called out number four-ranked Reece McLaren during the previously mentioned interview with Nick Atkin:
"Reece, you’re next! And it’s over for the rest of you. Daddy’s coming for you."
Reece McLaren has fought seven times in ONE Championship and won eleven. The longtime flyweight contender is riding momentum after securing consecutive split decision wins against Hu Yong and interim strawweight champion Jarred Brooks.
Sanzhar Zakirov has already started earning respect in ONE, but McLaren might not be interested in the matchup.
In December 2024, McLaren's win against Brooks created a strong argument for him to earn a vacant title shot against Adriano Moraes. Instead, the promotion awarded the opportunity to number two-ranked Yuya Wakamatsu.
McLaren's current focus is to fight the winner of Moraes vs. Wakamatsu, which goes down on March 23 at ONE 172. Therefore, the Aussie might not be willing to take the risk against an unranked opponent like Zakirov unless he wants to stay more active.
