ONE Fight Night 22: Akbar Abdullaev Eyes World Title Fight With Tang Kai In Near Future

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With 11 stoppages in as many professional fights, there's no other way to describe featherweight MMA star Akbar Abdullaev other than savage - and he cemented his reputation this past weekend at ONE Fight Night 22: Sundell vs. Diachkova.

"Bakal" faced Halil Amir in what was touted as a collision between two of the hottest rising stars on Saturday, 4 May, inside Bangkok, Thailand's Lumpinee Boxing Stadium. Both men entered the contest unbeaten with respective 10-0 MMA records alongside a string of finishes.

Even though the fight was his toughest assignment yet, Abdullaev served his fellow Kyrgyzstani native a second-round knockout to move closer to the featherweight division's top-five rankings, further affirming his position in the division.

"I'm feeling great. I have so many emotions now so it's really difficult to describe everything with words," the 26-year-old said after the fight.

"I'm feeling the best. It's like a dream now. I'm feeling like I'm in a dream and I'm happy. I'm really happy."

This past weekend's finish was the 10th knockout of Abdullaev's career. That leaves no doubt in anyone's mind about the firepower he possesses. But coming from a land of wrestlers in Kyrgyzstan, Abdullaev enjoyed the opportunity to show off his grappling acumen.

The chance to do so against a solid opponent proved he's no one-trick pony, and doing so dominantly only made his performance that much more impressive at ONE Fight Night 22.

"When it comes to my wrestling, many people say they were surprised, but you guys need to understand, since childhood, I was wrestling. If you Google Kyrgyzstan, we have one of the best teams in the world. Wrestling is pretty big in Kyrgyzstan. And I [have been] wrestling since childhood," Abdullaev said.

"But MMA, it's not just hugging and takedowns and just staying on the floor. It's all about [putting on] a good show. It's all about strikes, it's all about throwing punches and kicks as well. So of course, I was trying to show everyone that I can do everything."

ONE Championship's featherweight MMA division is quickly piling up with notable names. Fifth-ranked Shamil Gasanov and #3-ranked Ilya Freymanov are two others who've recently made themselves known in the weight class.

But after victories over Oh Ho Taek, Aaron Canarte, and Amir, Abdullaev now has his sights on ONE Featherweight MMA World Champion Tang Kai. And he believes the skill set he possesses is more than capable of taking down the Chinese phenom.

"I'm not gonna do anything new. It's gonna be the same strategy, because he's also really strong [in the standup]. He's a pretty good striker. I'm pretty sure we're going to do the same things we do well. We're gonna be striking, but at the same time, we're gonna do wrestling too," Abdullaev said.

"I'm going to win. At the same time, I'm pretty confident of my skills. I'm pretty confident about all my weapons and I'm gonna use it and I'm gonna win."