Aliakbari beats Bhullar, keeps ONE Championship streak going
Iranian mixed martial arts fighter continued his impressive run in the heavyweight division of the ONE Championship by beating Indian Arjan “Singh” Bhullar in ONE 166: Qatar in bizarre fashion, as the former world champion was disqualified for inactivity.
Aliakbari moved for Bhullar’s head all night long at Lusail Sports Arena, but the latter looked to be more interested in avoiding those hits rather than fighting back.
The Indian was shown yellow cards in each of the first two rounds but that barely changed his approach.
With the bout approaching the end of the third round, referee Herb Dean seemed to have had enough as he showed Bhullar the red card on the 4:15 mark.
The result saw Aliakbari celebrate a fourth successive victory in the MMA promotion – moving to 13-3 overall.
Victorious over Italian Mauro Cerilli, Filipino Brandon Vera, and Canadian Dustin Joynson over the past 18 months, the former world Greco-Roman wrestling champion now hopes his latest triumph will earn him a shot at the world heavyweight title against Anatoly “Sladkiy” Malykhin, who made history in Friday’s main event.
The unbeaten Russian defeated Dutch fighter Reinier de Ridder – taking his record to 6-0 since joining the promotion in 2021 – to claim the ONE middleweight MMA world championship and become the first man in the sport to win world titles across three different weight classes.
In a rematch of the pair’s light heavyweight showdown in December 2022, Malykhin repeated his victory over the Dutchman thanks to a technical knockout at the 1:16 mark of round three.
Aliakbairi, who was knocked out by Malykhin in his second ONE outing in September 2021, said earlier this week that the winner of his fight against Bhullar would “deserve a title shot against the ONE heavyweight world champion.”