Amir Aliakbari


Amir Aliakbari is an Iranian former gold medalist and world champion in Greco-Roman wrestler and current mixed martial artist. He formerly competed at Absolute Championship Akhmat and Rizin Fighting Federation. International Wrestling Federation, FILA banned Aliakbari from competing for life after a second doping offence.

Wrestling career

In 2007–2008, he wrestled for Melli Haffari Company Ahvaz Sports Club of Iranian Premier Wrestling League.
He missed the 2012 Summer Olympics due to a doping suspension.
In 2013 World Wrestling Championships, 120 kg he initially won a gold medal, making him a two-times 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 was moved up to gold.

Mixed martial arts career

Early career

In 2014, longtime MMA entrepreneur Mishal Abul personally founded Aliakbari & got him into MMA. Mishal 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 of AKA Thailand in Phuket, Thailand also training alongside UFC fighters Mark Hunt and Soa Palelei. He 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 FF

In early 2016, it was announced that Aliakbari signed with the Japanese promotion Rizin Fighting Federation. He made his debuted 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 in the quarter-finals in December 2016. However, Carwin withdrew from the tournament and he instead faced Heath Herring. 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 in the finals on the same night and lost the fight via knockout. He then defeated Geronimo dos Santos and Tyler King via TKO.

ACB

In December 2017 Aliakbari announced departure from Rizin and Joining ACB. His first opponent was Denis Smoldarev, who Aliakbari defeated via KO/TKO at 2:27 of Round 1 on March 24, 2018. He is going to have four opponents in ACB.

Ultimate Fighting Championship

It was reported that Aliakbari was signed by UFC on June 6, 2019 after Aliakbari offered compensation to the ACA for early termination of his contract, where the compensation sum was donated to charity. In November however Aliakbari had to withdraw from the UFC roster due to U.S sanctions on Iran. Aliakbari cited that it was impossible for him to transfer his UFC earnings to his home country Iran due to the financial blockade caused by the U.S sanctions. Ultimately this left him with no choice but to quit his contract with the promotion.

Mixed martial arts record

Greco-Roman results

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