ONE 166: Qatar results: Arjan Bhullar’s inactivity costs him big time against Amir Aliakbari

Heavyweight MMA world title favorite Amir Aliakbari’s power and all-out attacking approach helped him to a victory over Arjan Bhullar in their showdown at ONE 166: Qatar this past Friday, March 1.

Despite not living up to the massive expectations of being an exciting heavyweight MMA match, It was still a chess match between Aliakbari and Bhullar inside the Lusail Sports Arena since both had the one-shot power and grappling prowess that could alter the fight in a split-second.

Unfortunately, the latter, a former ONE heavyweight MMA world champion, was always constantly on the back foot, as he failed to advance and string anything significant against the ever-ready Iranian knockout machine.

That forced referee Herb Dean to issue two yellow cards to Bhullar in the second round due to a lack of activity.

Although Bhullar seemed unwilling to trade strike for strike against Aliakbari, the Iranian was always on the front, ready to close the distance to let his foe taste his firepower.

Before the fight was officially stopped in the third and final round, the Iranian hulk was putting together a decent combination that rocked his Indian opponent, which caused him to stay on the backfoot and continue to be gun-shy.

Although Herd Dean was constantly reminding him to engage in the fight, Bhullar continued to retreat, and that was the last straw for the American referee to call the stoppage in the dying seconds of the bout.

The AAA Team representative recorded his fourth straight victory under the world’s largest martial arts organization and likely earned his shot for redemption against reigning ONE heavyweight MMA world champion Anatoly Malykhin.

On the other hand, Bhullar has suffered back-to-back losses and now sports a 2-2 record under ONE Championship.

ONE 166: Qatar will be headlined by a massive middleweight MMA world title clash between Reinier de Ridder and Anatoly Malykhin. Catch all the action on Amazon Prime Video.

Official result: Amir Aliakbari beats Arjan Bhullar via disqualification.