“I’m Ready for Anyone” – Akbar Abdullaev Aiming for World Title Shot or Bout With Ranked Fighter After Latest Win

Akbar Abdullaev means business, and he’s laser-focused on the very top of ONE Championship’s featherweight MMA division.

“Bakal” scored his third straight victory in the world’s largest martial arts organization when he stopped fellow undefeated fighter Halil “No Mercy” Amir at ONE Fight Night 22 last Friday, May 3.

Akbar Abdullaev’s willingness to fight any opponent

During his post-fight interview with ONE, Abdullaev laid out that he’d be more than willing to challenge ONE Featherweight MMA World Champion Tang Kai in his next fight – or take on anyone else in the stacked division.

“As I said before, I’m ready for the title shot. But, at the same time, if ONE Championship decides I need to fight with somebody else, I’m ready. Bring them on. I’m ready for anyone,” he Abdullaev.

“Even now, we have some time to change some clothes. I can do one more fight right now.”

Despite the caliber of opponent he had to deal with this past weekend, “Bakal” appeared to escape unscathed, giving weight to his claims of being able to fight again that night.

But for a competitor like Tang, the 26-year-old sensation would be wise to put in some work.

The Chinese superstar is currently undefeated after eight fights in ONE Championship, after all, and he has five finishes to his name.

His latest win came at ONE 166: Qatar in March, when he returned from injury to knock out interim titleholder Thanh Le and unify the belt.

The featherweight division is wary about Abdullaev

Nonetheless, Abdullaev was adamant that he could hold his own against Tang, even without special preparation. “Yeah, you know, I’m not going to do anything new. It’s going to be the same strategy. Because he’s also really strong standing. He’s a pretty good striker,” he said.

“So, I’m pretty sure we’re going to do the same things we do well, you know? We’re going to be striking, but at the same time, we’re going to do wrestling too.”

While a match between the two undefeated stars would be intriguing to watch, the featherweight MMA division is full of hungry contenders who are dangerous in their own right, so “Bakal” may have to add a couple more wins to his slate first.

From strong ground specialists like Garry Tonon and Shamil Gasanov to powerful strikers like Le, Ilya Freymanov, and former two-division World Champion Martin Nguyen, Abdullaev will have no shortage of opponents to test his skills against en route to proving he’s ready to contest the 26.5-pounds of ONE Championship gold.