Aliakbari beats Canadian Joynson, taunts Malykhin for world heavyweight title
ASIAN MMA – Mixed martial arts fighter Amir Aliakbari looks set to challenge for the ONE Championship heavyweight title.
The Iranian was supposed to face off with Anatoly Malykhin after his victory over Canadian Dustin Joynson at ONE Fight Night 12 on Friday but the plan was scrapped after the two men nearly came to blows.
Malykhin was invited into the ring and immediately began to taunt Aliakbari, although it wasn’t clear exactly what was being said. The two men briefly wrestled with one another before the altercation was broken up and the Russian escorted back to his seat.
They both ended up in an awkward clinch although it is possible one of them might have been simply trying to embrace the other. Whether or not the plan was to announce a rematch we don’t know but Aliakbari is clearly the number one contender.
The Iranian has well and truly turned his ONE Championship career around after losing his first two fights with the promotion. He will have an opportunity to avenge one of those losses when he rematches Malykhin later this year.
Aliakbari looked sharp in the early exchanges as he fired off hooks to the head. The Iranian drove Joynson back with a series of jabs and had the Canadian trapped in the corner.
He fired off a hard right hand to the head and with Joynson’s hands high Aliakbari was easily able to secure a takedown. He immediately secured side control and trapped the Canadian in the crucifix position.
With both arms pinned Joynson’s head was completely exposed and Aliakbari took advantage to land several punches. Eventually the Canadian decided he had had enough with the tap coming at the 1:48 mark.
With the win Aliakbari improves to 13-3 and probably secures a shot at the heavyweight title. Joynson drops to 7-2-0-1.