Who is Amir Aliakbari? Get to Know More About ONE’s Recent Acquisition

ONE Championship have signed two-time Greco-Roman wrestling world champion, Amir Aliakbari. He is the first world-class Iranian wrestler to pursue an MMA career.    

The decorated Iranian wrestler has a professional MMA record of 10-1. The heavy-handed Aliakbari possesses a dominant ground game. With his suffocating style, he is riding a four-bout winning streak and has a 70% finishing rate.

Background

Amir Aliakbari won a gold medal in Greco-Roman wrestling at the Olympics in 2010. In the 2013 World Wrestling Championships, he again won a gold medal. However, after a second doping offense, Aliakbari was stripped of the medal and the International Wrestling Federation banned Aliakbari for life.

In 2014, Amir Aliakbari transitioned to MMA. Training out of AKA Thailand alongside UFC fighters Mark Hunt and Soa Palelei, he made his MMA debut in 2015.

After finishing his first 2 fights via KO, he signed with the Rizin Fighting Federation. Aliakbari participated at the Rizin Openweight Grand Prix and beat 3 separate opponents to advance in the finals, where he got his only loss coming at the hands of MMA veteran, Mirko Crocop.

Amir Aliakbari bounced back and has won five straight fights. In 2017, Amir departed from Rizin and joined ACB, where he won his last three fights.

The 32-year-old Iranian holds notable wins over former UFC fighter Daniel Omielanczuk, and current Bellator fighter Valentin Moldavsky.

He was supposedly signed with the UFC last year. But the contract was canceled because of the doping ban handed by the international wrestling governing body being recognized by UFC"s anti-doping program Administrator USADA. Further reports added that it was due to economic sanctions on Iran from the United States.

Future in ONE Championship

Amir Aliakbari already has his sights set on the ONE heavyweight championship. In a statement, he provided to ESPN, Amir said:

"I"m glad to sign with ONE Championship, I"m going to invade their heavyweight division, and fight [champion] Brandon Vera. When I"m finished with him, they"re not going to recognize him because I will disfigure his face. I believe I"m the best heavyweight in the world today. I"m unstoppable."

Amir Aliakbari is easily an immediate threat in the heavyweight ranks.

Do you think Amir Aliakbari will deliver his words and become the ONE Heavyweight World Champion?