Akbar Abdullaev is looking to improve his win streak under the ONE Championship banner to three in a row when he returns at ONE Fight Night 22.
The 26-year-old contender has hit the ground running in the featherweight division with back-to-back wins and finishes. He is yet to go past the minute mark in either of his appearances inside the circle, but this next test could really see him push himself to new limits.
On May 3 inside the iconic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium, he will take on Halil Amir. After building an impressive win streak in the lightweight division, Amir will be making his featherweight MMA debut.
Abdullaev believes that his mindset and experience will be crucial to getting the win in this high stakes matchup. We are yet to really see too much of his game under the ONE banner but that could change in his biggest fight to date.
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Abdullaev previewed the bout and pointed out where his advantages lie in an interview with the promotion:
"For this fight, I will bring two things, a good attitude and knowledge."
You can't afford to blink when watching Akbar Abdullaev
If there is any fight at ONE Fight Night 22 that you can't afford to look away from, even for an instant, it's the featherweight clash between Akbar Abdullaev and Halil Amir.
Amir has an impressive finishing rate of his own but even he can't match-up to the rapid wins that Akbar Abdullaev has been racking up since joining the ranks of the featherweight division.
Oh Ho Taek at ONE Fight Night 8 and Aaron Canarte at ONE Fight Night 12 were both unable to really test him by making it past the opening minute.
The key for Amir could be bringing his opponent into deeper waters, but getting the fight into that timeframe has proven to be a difficult task when coming up against this opponent.
ONE Fight Night 22 will air live from the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in U.S. primetime for North American viewers with an active Prime Video subscription.