Now that Akbar Abdullaev is officially out of his contract with ONE, I wanted to take a deeper look at him. Abdullaev started his career fighting lower-level competition until signing with ONE Championship in 2023. As his level of competition ramped up, so did his performances. He went 5-0 in ONE and finished all five opponents.
I’ll remind you just how good those wins were at the time. Abdullaev snapped Ho Taek Oh’s seven-fight win streak. He handed both Halil Amir and Aaron Canarte their first professional losses when they were each 10-0. He defeated Kai Tang, who was the champion at the time and still is. Lastly, he snapped Ibragim Dauev’s ten-fight win streak. Abdullaev was arguably the best MMA fighter in ONE and is now at Open FC, where he won’t be facing the same level of competition.
Abdullaev has had his takedown defense tested quite a bit, and although he’s been taken down, he’s always responded well. From my personal stats, he’s been taken down seven times while stuffing 27 attempts. Of those seven takedowns, the longest he spent on his back was just 27 seconds. In total, he’s only spent 1 minute and 58 seconds on his back, which is impressive. More than anything, Abdullaev has proven he’s not willing to accept the bottom position. To get him down, you almost have to get deep on a single or double leg, but the bigger challenge is keeping him there or winning the scramble.
I have Abdullaev landing 15 takedowns throughout his career. He’s landed double legs, single legs, and chained together multiple attempts. Where he excels the most is in the clinch. He’s very good at utilizing inside trips, outside trips, and mat returns from the back. He’s also slick at ducking under punches to get to the back and work from there. A lot of the time, he’s scoring top position by defending takedowns, winning scrambles, or hiping out.
Once Abdullaev gets on top, he’s pretty much locked in. He’s only been reversed once and mounted once, and both were only brief moments. He isn’t an active guard passer, but he’ll stay busy with ground-and-pound and advance whenever the opening is there. If you allow Abdullaev to get to a dominant position, he’s there to stay. He floats between the mount and the back effortlessly and has a super strong body triangle. While he’s only won by submission once, he’s been attacked with plenty of submission attempts. With that said, his ground-and-pound is where he can most easily finish a fight.
His striking is what absolutely sets him apart. It’s his steady pressure, relentless pace, and everything in between that make him so effective. Abdullaev is constantly attacking at both levels. His jab is the foundation of his stand-up. He’ll even jab the body, and it’s become one of the most valuable tools in his skill set. He uses it to measure distance, disrupt pressure, and set up the bigger shots upstairs. It’s not just the body jab either as he’ll repeatedly stab the body with his teep. Abdullaev has serious power, and it’s showcased by all the work he does beforehand. The feints and body attacks force opponents to lower their hands before he goes in for the kill.
Abdullaev is also excellent at slipping punches and firing right back. He’s constantly applying pressure, winning the foot position, and throwing combinations whenever the opening presents itself. One of his best weapons is a vicious uppercut that he likes to mix into combinations, and it’s a punch he’s finished multiple fights with.
Abdullaev is a UFC-ready prospect who can compete at a high level right now. Kyrgyzstan has produced some solid fighters, but Abdullaev is one of the legitimate ones. He does so many things well, has no glaring holes in his game, and has shown all of it against quality competition.
