"It was a pretty good surprise" - Undefeated Alibeg Rasulov honored to get shot at interim lightweight MMA gold in ONE debut

Alibeg Rasulov has a huge opportunity on his hands ahead of ONE Fight Night 23 which he is incredibly grateful for.

The undefeated Turkish mixed martial artist was set to make his debut with the promotion on July 5 in the start of a new chapter for his career.

He already had a big spot on his hands as he came up against the former ONE lightweight world champion Ok Rae Yoon.

Now, with the originally planned main event for this card being canceled, the two lightweight contenders will compete in the main event with the interim title on the line.

Rasulov suddenly has the opportunity to secure a piece of ONE Championship gold on his debut if he is able to come away with the win inside Lumpinee Stadium.

He spoke in an interview with Nick Atkin for Sportskeeda about being thankful for this next step of his career:

"Yes. It was a pretty good surprise, and I was happy. I just want to say thank you to ONE Championship for such a good opportunity."

Watch the full interview below:

Alibeg Rasulov is looking to ruin plans at ONE Fight Night 23

It seemed inevitable that before this fight was promoted to the main event, a win for Ok Rae Yoon over Alibeg Rasulov would have meant a huge title unification clash.

The former champion is currently tied in his series with the champion Christian Lee but his hopes of settling the score could fall apart if Rasulov is able to secure the win on his debut.

With the interim title now on the line, a clash with Lee awaits either man which could set Rasulov up for a huge introduction to ONE Championship if he is able to fight in a title unification clash in just his second fight with the promotion.

ONE Fight Night 23 will air live and free at US prime time for North American viewers with an active Prime Video subscription.