Headlined by a heavyweight matchup between UFC veteran Alexey Oleynik and Antonio Zovak, Saturday’s Open Fighting Championship 67 will also see Kozhakhmet Imangali challenge Open FC Lightweight Champion Shalbuz Esedullaev in battle between undefeated prospects.
Shalbuz Esedullaev (Russia, 6-0)
Standing just a shade under 6’2”, Esedullaev has only gone to a second round once in his six professional fights.
The Russian fought at welterweight in two out of his first three bouts, knocking out all of his opponents in just over a full round of combined cage time. He’s been fully committed to lightweight since going to a second round for the first time at the end of 2024, and he won the Open FC belt last November when he caught Kurban Chokuev in a kneebar just under halfway through the opening round.
Esedullaev has unsurprisingly dwarfed much of the competition that he’s faced thus far and makes good use of his long frame. He relies heavily on his straight punches to keep opponents at the end of his reach and has shown good timing on his right hand as a counter, and he also loves to throw out a variety of kicks using both legs.
He’s particularly dexterous with his high kicks and used this attack to brutally finish Magomed Alilbulatov in his second professional fight, and his long limbs have also proven to be a major asset for him when grappling.
Esedullaev is more than capable of controlling an opponent on the ground to look for a finish from top position or jump on their back, but he’s also a danger to find submissions from the bottom and impressively wrapped up Rim Khaziakhmetov’s neck with a guillotine at Open FC 49 while the two men were still standing.
Kozhakhmet Imangali (Kazakhstan, 9-0)
Imangali also boasts a large frame but stands a bit shorter than Esedullaev at 6’0”, and “Qoja” has also spent the majority of his MMA career competing in the featherweight division.
A southpaw, Imangali has finished six out of his nine MMA opponents and also took a one-off kickboxing bout at welterweight in April of last year. He likes to chip away at opponents with low kicks from both legs and also occasionally stab at their midsection, and he’ll also mix in some kicks to the open side using his rear leg in southpaw vs. orthodox matchups.
Imangali will open up on an opponent if they’re hurt or covered up against the fence, but he largely prefers to try and catch them on the counter when they come forward with strikes or try to shoot in on him. He’ll often rely on timing his left hand in these situations, but a quick glance at his record will also show that the undefeated Kazakh’s most dangerous weapon are his knees.
“Qoja” will frequently look to land jumping knees with his opponent on the fence or try and time them as a deterrent for takedown attempts, although some of previous opposition has been able to find success getting him to the ground. Imangali will quickly look to scramble into a dominant position when taken down and has nasty ground and pound on top, and he’s also quick to establish a body triangle if he’s able to get onto an opponent’s back.
Who Leaves Open FC 67 With the Lightweight Belt?
I came across Imanagli when I was looking for late round picks in this year’s Prospect Grand Prix and like a lot of what I’ve seen from him so far, but the big question mark in this matchup is how he’ll look against a huge lightweight after he’s enjoyed a considerable size advantage in most of his previous fights at featherweight
The same can actually be said for Esedullaev, although he still has the advantage of being the bigger man that’s competing in his usual weight class. That being said, I’m interested to see how the Russian deals with a southpaw that should also be able to challenge him a bit more with strikes from distance than he might be used to.
The grappling may be where this fight is won or lost, as Imanagli has been taken down by opponents quite a bit smaller than Esedullaev and sometimes relies too much on his size and strength to either scramble into a dominant position or find a takedown of his own.
It’s not often that we get to see two young, undefeated fighters square off in what looks to be a pretty interesting stylistic matchup. That being said, Esedullaev has to be favored here, even if I’d selfishly like to see Imangali win and get me some more Prospect Grand Prix points.
A loss here wouldn’t be a terrible setback for Imangali given that he’s moving up from featherweight for this fight, but whichever man does get their hand raised (especially if it’s via finish) will raise their stock pretty significantly.
