Amir Aliakbari ( fa, امير على‌اكبرى, born 11 December 1987) is an Iranian

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incorp ...

signed to

ONE Championship ONE Championship (formerly ONE Fighting Championship) is a Singaporean combat sports promotion. Founded on 14 July 2011 by entrepreneur Chatri Sityodtong and former ESPN Star Sports senior executive Victor Cui, its events have featured mixed ...

, where he competes in the

Heavyweight Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. Boxing Professional Boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 3 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the Wo ...

division. He has also competed for

Absolute Championship Berkut Absolute Championship Akhmat (ACA), formerly known as Absolute Championship Berkut (ACB), is a Russian mixed martial arts, kickboxing and Brazilian jiu-jitsu organization and one of the leading promotions in Europe. To date, most events have been ...

(ACB) and

Rizin Fighting Federation Rizin Fighting Federation (Rizin FF or Rizin) is a Japanese mixed martial arts organization created in 2015 by the former Pride Fighting Championships and Dream Stage Entertainment president Nobuyuki Sakakibara. Rizin was founded to be the spir ...

. Aliakbari is also a former gold medalist and world champion in

Greco-Roman wrestling Greco-Roman (American English), Graeco-Roman (British English), classic wrestling (Euro English) or French wrestling (in Russia until 1948) is a style of wrestling that is practiced worldwide. Greco-Roman wrestling was included in the first mod ...

, winning gold medals at the 2010 World Wrestling Championships and

2009 Asian Wrestling Championships The 2009 Asian Wrestling Championships were held in Pattaya, Thailand. The event took place from May 2 to May 7, 2009. Medal table Team ranking Medal summary Men's freestyle Men's Greco-Roman Women's freestyle Participating nations ...

. International Wrestling Federation FILA banned Aliakbari from competing for life after a second doping offense.

Wrestling career

In 2007–2008, Aliakbari wrestled for Melli Haffari Company Ahvaz Sports Club of the

Iranian Premier Wrestling League The Iranian Premier Wrestling League is a professional wrestling league in Iran. League champions Freestyle Greco-Roman See also * Wrestling in Iran References External links IAWFIran Wrestling News{{Iranian Sport leagues Wrest Wre ...

. Aliakbari missed the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

due to a doping suspension. In the 2013 World Wrestling Championships, 120 kg he initially won a gold medal, making him a two-time world champion. However, in December 2013, International Wrestling Federation, FILA banned Aliakbari for life after a second doping offence. He was stripped of his gold medal and

Heiki Nabi Heiki Nabi (born 6 June 1985) is an Estonian Olympic champion Greco-Roman wrestler. Nabi was born in Hilleste, Hiiumaa. At the 2006 World Wrestling Championships he won the gold medal in the men's Greco-Roman (96 kg) category and became ...

was moved up to gold.

Mixed martial arts career

Early career

In 2014, longtime MMA entrepreneur Mishal Abul personally found Aliakbari and got him into MMA. Abul was an investor with Paradigm Sports Management, so Aliakbari signed a management agreement with them. At the same time, he signed on to train under UFC star

Mike Swick Michael Timothy Swick (born June 19, 1979) is a retired American professional mixed martial artist, who spent most of his career competing for the UFC's middleweight division. Swick, who trains at American Kickboxing Academy alongside fellow welt ...

of AKA Thailand in Phuket, Thailand, also training alongside UFC fighters

Mark Hunt Mark Richard Hunt (born 23 March 1974) is a New Zealand former mixed martial artist and kickboxer of Samoan descent, currently living in Sydney, Australia. Hunt competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) until 2018 and was the winn ...

and

Soa Palelei Soa Palelei (born 12 July 1977) is an Australian retired mixed martial artist. A professional from 2002 until 2015, he most notably competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship and PRIDE Fighting Championships. Background Born in 1977, Newc ...

. Aliakbari is the first world class Iranian wrestler to pursue an MMA career.

Early MMA career

Aliakbari made his professional MMA debut in October 2015, defeating Hyung Chul-Lee via TKO in the first round. His second bout came two months later as he defeated Radu Spinghel via TKO in the first round.

Rizin Fighting Federation

In early 2016, it was announced that Aliakbari had signed with the Japanese promotion

. He made his debut in September in the first round of the Openweight Grand Prix against Joao Isidoro Almeida. He won the fight via TKO in the first round. Aliakbari was scheduled to face former UFC champion

Shane Carwin Western Colorado Mountaineers Shane Bannister Carwin (born January 4, 1975) is an American former mixed martial artist who competed in the Heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He is a former Interim UFC Hea ...

in the quarter-finals in December 2016. However, Carwin withdrew from the tournament and he instead faced

Heath Herring Heath Herring (born March 2, 1978) is an American professional mixed martial artist currently competing in the Heavyweight division of Rizin. While perhaps best known for competing in PRIDE, he has also formerly competed for the UFC and K-1. ...

. Aliakbari won the bout by unanimous decision. In the final stage of the tournament on December 31, Aliakbari faced Valentin Moldavsky. He won the fight via split decision. He then faced

Mirko Cro Cop Mirko Filipović (; born 10 September 1974), better known by his ring name Mirko Cro Cop, is a retired Croatian professional mixed martial artist, kickboxer and amateur boxer. He is mostly known for his time in Pride Fighting Championships. Cro ...

in the finals on the same night and lost the fight via knockout. He then defeated Geronimo dos Santos and Tyler King via TKO.

Absolute Championship Berkut

In December 2017 Aliakbari announced his departure from Rizin and his joining of ACB. His first opponent was Denis Smoldarev, whom Aliakbari defeated via technical knockout at 2:27 of the first round on March 24, 2018. He was set to have four opponents in ACB.

Ultimate Fighting Championship

It was reported that Aliakbari was signed by the

UFC The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

on June 6, 2019 after he offered compensation to the ACA for early termination of his contract, where the compensation sum was donated to charity. He withdrew from the UFC due to a doping ban handed down by the international amateur wrestling governing body, as well as US sanctions.

ONE Championship

In August 2020 news broke that Aliakbari had signed with the

. He was scheduled to make his promotional debut against Islam Abasov at ONE Championship: Big Bang on December 4, 2020. However, Abasov withdrew from the fight after being detained following a road incident in his native Russia. Aliakbari faced Kang Ji Won at ONE Championship: Fists of Fury 2 on March 5, 2021. In a huge upset, Aliakbari lost to Kang by first-round knockout. Aliakbari faced Anatoliy Malykhin at ONE Championship: Revolution on September 24, 2021. He lost the bout, getting knocked unconscious again in the first round. Aliakbari faced Mauro Cerilli at

ONE on Prime Video 1 ONE on Prime Video refers to ONE Championship events broadcast live on Amazon Prime during prime time hours in the United States and Canada. Background The debut event of the series featured the ONE Flyweight World Championship rematch between ...

on August 27, 2022. He won the fight via technical knockout in the second round, earning his first promotional victory. Aliakbari faced the former ONE Heavyweight World Champion

Brandon Vera Brandon Michael Vera (born October 10, 1977), or also known by his ring name as The Truth, is a Filipino-American (of Italian heritage) retired mixed martial artist where he was the inaugural ONE Heavyweight Champion and the 2005 WEC Heavyweigh ...

on December 3, 2022, at

ONE 164 ''ONE 164: Pacio vs. Brooks'' was a Combat sport event produced by ONE Championship that took place on December 3, 2022, at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay, Philippines. Background This is a competition with two events on December 3, is ONE ...

. He won the fight by a first-round technical knockout.

Mixed martial arts record

, - , Win , align=center, 12–3 ,

, TKO (elbows and punches) , ONE 164: Pacio vs. Brooks , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 3:37 ,

Pasay Pasay, officially the City of Pasay ( fil, Lungsod ng Pasay; ), is a 1st class Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Metro Manila, National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, i ...

, Philippines , , - , Win , align=center, 11–3 , Mauro Cerilli , TKO (elbows) ,

, , align=center, 2 , align=center, 4.02 ,

Kallang Kallang is a planning area and residential town located in the Central Region of Singapore. Development of the town is centered around the Kallang River, the longest river in Singapore. Kallang Planning Area is bounded by Toa Payoh in the no ...

, Singapore , , - , Loss , align=center, 10–3 , Anatoliy Malykhin , KO (punches) , ONE: Revolution , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:57 ,

, Singapore , , - , Loss , align=center, 10–2 , Kang Ji Won , KO (punches) , ONE: Fists Of Fury 2 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:54 ,

, Singapore , , - , Win , align=center, 10–1 , Shelton Graves , TKO (punches) , ACA 93: Balaev vs. Zhamaldaev , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 4:44 ,

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, Russia , , - , Win , align=center, 9–1 ,

Daniel Omielańczuk Daniel Omielańczuk (born August 31, 1982) is a Polish professional mixed martial artist and kickboxer currently competing in the Heavyweight division of Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki (KSW). A professional MMA competitor since 2009, he has competed f ...

, Decision (unanimous) , ACB 89: Abdulvakhabov vs. Bagov 3 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

Krasnodar Krasnodar (; rus, Краснода́р, p=krəsnɐˈdar; ady, Краснодар), formerly Yekaterinodar (until 1920), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Krasnodar Krai, Russia. The city stands on the Kuban River in southern ...

, Russia , , - , Win , align=center, 8–1 , Denis Smoldarev , TKO (elbows and punches) , ACB 83: Borisov vs. Kerimov , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:25 ,

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

, Azerbaijan , , - , Win , align=center, 7–1 , Tyler King , TKO (punches) , Rizin Fighting World Grand Prix 2017 Opening Round Part 1 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:39 , Saitama, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 6–1 , Gerônimo dos Santos , TKO (punches) , Rizin FF 5: Sakura , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 3:34 ,

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

, Japan , , - , Loss , align=center, 5–1 ,

, KO (punches) , Rizin World Grand-Prix 2016: Final Round , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:03 , Saitama, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 5–0 ,

Valentin Moldavsky Valentin Igorevich Moldavsky (russian: Валенти́н И́горевич Молда́вский; born 6 February 1992) is a Russian mixed martial artist and combat sambo practitioner. He is currently signed to Bellator MMA, where he is a fo ...

, Decision (split) , Rizin World Grand-Prix 2016: Final Round , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 5:00 , Saitama, Japan , , - , Win , align=center , 4–0 ,

, Decision (unanimous) , Rizin World Grand-Prix 2016: 2nd Round , , align=center , 2 , align=center , 5:00 , Saitama, Japan , , - , Win , align=center , 3–0 , João Isidoro Almeida , TKO (punches) , Rizin World Grand-Prix 2016: 1st Round , , align=center , 1 , align=center , 2:25 , Saitama, Japan , , - , Win , align=center , 2–0 , Radu Spinghel , TKO (punches) , Real Fight Championship 3 , , align=center , 1 , align=center , 1:02 ,

, Japan , , - , Win , align=center , 1–0 , Hyung Chul-Lee , TKO (punches) , Full Metal Dojo 7: Full Metal Massacre , , align=center , 1 , align=center , 0:17 ,

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...

, Thailand , , -

Greco-Roman results

! colspan="8" , World Championships matches , - ! Res. ! Record ! Opponent ! Score ! Date ! Event ! Location ! Notes , - ! style=background:white colspan=9 , , - , Win , 14–1 , align=left ,

, 4–0 , 2013-09-16 ,

2013 World Wrestling Championships The 2013 World Wrestling Championships was the 9th edition of World Wrestling Championships of combined events and were held from September 16 to 22 in Budapest, Hungary. Medal table Team ranking Medal summary Men's freestyle Men's Greco- ...

, style="text-align:left;" ,

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

, style="text-align:left;" , , - , Win , 13–1 , align=left , Riza Kayaalp , 4–1 , 2013-09-16 ,

, style="text-align:left;" , , - , Win , 12–1 , align=left , Eduard Popp , 7–0 , 2013-09-16 ,

, style="text-align:left;" ,

, style="text-align:left;" , , - , Win , 11–1 , align=left , Johan Euren , 7–0 , 2013-09-16 ,

, style="text-align:left;" ,

, style="text-align:left;" , , - , Win , 10–1 , align=left ,

Oleksandr Chernetskyi Oleksandr Stepanovych Chernetskyi ( uk, Олександр Степанович Чернецький, also transliterated Chernetsʼkyy or Chernetskyy, born February 17, 1984, in Dolyna, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast) is an amateur Ukrainian Greco-Roman ...

, 3–1^F , 2013-09-16 ,

, style="text-align:left;" ,

, style="text-align:left;" , , - ! style=background:white colspan=9 , , - , Win , 9–1 , align=left , Tsimafai Dzeinichenka , 2–2, 1–0 , 2010-09-06 , 2010 World Wrestling Championships , style="text-align:left;" ,

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, style="text-align:left;" , , - , Win , 8–1 , align=left ,

Aslanbek Khushtov Aslanbek Vitalievich Khushtov (russian: Асланбек Витальевич Хуштов; born 1 July 1980 in Beloglinka, Kabardino-Balkarian ASSR) is a Circassian ( Kabarday) wrestler, who has won a gold medal in the 2008 Summer Olympics ...

, 1–0, 1–0 , 2010-09-06 , 2010 World Wrestling Championships , style="text-align:left;" ,

, style="text-align:left;" , , - , Win , 7–1 , align=left , Kaloyan Dinchev , 3–0, 1–0 , 2010-09-06 , 2010 World Wrestling Championships , style="text-align:left;" ,

, style="text-align:left;" , , - , Win , 6–1 , align=left ,

Mohamed Abdelfatah Mohamed Abdelfattah ( ar, محمد عبد الفتاح, born February 4, 1978 in Suez, Egypt), commonly known by his nickname "Bogy" ( ar, بوجى), is an Egyptian Olympic Greco-Roman wrestler who competed in 76 kg, 84 kg, and 96&nb ...

, 1–0, 1–0 , 2010-09-06 , 2010 World Wrestling Championships , style="text-align:left;" ,

, style="text-align:left;" , , - , Win , 5–1 , align=left , Davyd Saldadze , 1–0, 1–0 , 2010-09-06 , 2010 World Wrestling Championships , style="text-align:left;" ,

, style="text-align:left;" , , - ! style=background:white colspan=9 , , - , Win , 4–1 , align=left , Davyd Saldadze , 1–0, 2–2 , 2009-09-26 ,

2009 World Wrestling Championships The 2009 World Wrestling Championships were held at the Messecenter Herning in Herning, Denmark. The event took place from September 21 to September 27, 2009. Medal table Team ranking Medal summary Men's freestyle Men's Greco-Roman Women' ...

, style="text-align:left;" ,

Herning Herning () is a Danish town in the Central Denmark Region of the Jutland peninsula. It is the main town and the administrative seat of Herning Municipality. Herning has a population of 50,565 (1 January 2022)Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

, style="text-align:left;" , , - , Loss , 3–1 , align=left , Balázs Kiss , 1–0, 0–5, 0–1 , 2009-09-26 ,

, style="text-align:left;" ,

, style="text-align:left;" , , - , Win , 3–0 , align=left , Alin Alexuc-Ciurariu , 2–0, 1–0 , 2009-09-26 ,

, style="text-align:left;" ,

, style="text-align:left;" , , - , Win , 2–0 , align=left , Kaloyan Dinchev , 3–0, 3–0 , 2009-09-26 ,

, style="text-align:left;" ,

, style="text-align:left;" , , - , Win , 1–0 , align=left , Jesper Viholt , 5–0, 4–0 , 2009-09-26 ,

, style="text-align:left;" ,

, style="text-align:left;" , , -

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aliakbari, Amir 1987 births Living people Iranian male sport wrestlers Iranian sportspeople in doping cases Wrestlers at the 2010 Asian Games Iranian male mixed martial artists Melli Haffari club sportspeople Sportspeople banned for life Islamic Azad University alumni Doping cases in wrestling World Wrestling Championships medalists World Wrestling Champions Universiade medalists in wrestling Universiade silver medalists for Iran Heavyweight mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing Greco-Roman wrestling Asian Games competitors for Iran Medalists at the 2013 Summer Universiade 21st-century Iranian people