High drama transpired this weekend at ONE Fight Night 12 at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, as Amir Aliakbari tussled with ONE double-champ Anatoly 'Sladkiy' Malykhin. The physical confrontation happened after Amir Aliakbari utterly demolished Dustin Joyson inside one round. The hulking Iranian wrestler then called out the reigning ONE light heavyweight and heavyweight world champion for a rematch.
The heavy-handed champ-champ didn't hesitate to jump inside the ring and confront the man he knocked out nearly two years ago. Unsurprisingly, the two heated foes nearly came into blows. ONE commentator Mitch Chillson, who was interviewing Aliakbari in the ring, was almost sandwiched by the two beasts. It nearly got ugly.
Here's a clip of the confrontation:
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Aliakbari faced Malykhin in 2021 and was absolutely destroyed within 3 minutes. He then bounced back with two straight stoppage wins in the promotion and made it known that he wants a rematch with the Russian world champion.
At ONE Fight Night 12, the Iranian wrestling machine opened the bout with a crushing left hook and right overhand combo that rung Joynson’s bell.
Desperately trying to turn the tide, Joynson pivoted out of Aliakbari's range but mistakenly walked right into another lead left and overhand right combination.
From there, the Greco-Roman wrestling world champion took his Canadian opponent down and worked his way into a crucifix pin. Amir Aliakbari then landed a hellish amount of elbows and punches on Joynson's defenseless head. With both arms pinned and nowhere else to go, the Canadian MMA standout had no choice but to tap out due to strikes.
ONE Championship posted a video edit of the fight and the eventful aftermath on YouTube:
"Iranian giant Amir Aliakbari dominated Canadian colossus Dustin Joynson en route to a first-round finish at ONE Fight Night 12!"
Amazon Prime Video subscribers in North America can catch all the action at ONE Fight Night 12 on replay and for free.