| Amir Aliakbari | |||||||||||
| Alma Mater: | Islamic Azad University of Eslamshahr[1] | ||||||||||
| Birth Name: | Amir Aziz Aliakbari | ||||||||||
| Birth Date: | 11 December 1987 | ||||||||||
| Birth Place: | Sarab County, Iran | ||||||||||
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Amir Aliakbari (Persian: امير علىاكبرى, born 11 December 1987) is an Iranian wrestler and mixed martial artist currently signed to ONE Championship, where he competes in the Heavyweight division. He has also competed for Full Metal Dojo in Thailand Absolute Championship Berkut (ACB) and Rizin Fighting Federation.
Aliakbari is also a former gold medalist and world champion in Greco-Roman wrestling, winning gold medals at the 2010 World Wrestling Championships and 2009 Asian Wrestling Championships. International Wrestling Federation FILA (now United World Wrestling) banned Aliakbari from competing for life after a second doping offense.
In 2007–2008, Aliakbari wrestled for Melli Haffari Company Ahvaz Sports Club of the Iranian Premier Wrestling League.[3]
Aliakbari missed the 2012 Summer Olympics 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.[4] 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.[5]
In 2014, longtime MMA entrepreneur & Gambino associate, Michael Abul personally founded Aliakbari from his wrestling credentials and got him into MMA. Abul was also a Founding investor with Paradigm Sports, so Aliakbari signed a management agreement with Paradigm Sports.[6] 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. Aliakbari is the first world class Iranian wrestler to pursue an MMA career.[7]
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.[8]
In early 2016, it was announced that Aliakbari had signed with the Japanese promotion Rizin Fighting Federation. 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 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.[9] He then faced Mirko Cro Cop in the finals on the same night and lost the fight via knockout.[10] He then defeated Geronimo dos Santos and Tyler King via TKO.[11]
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.
It was reported that Aliakbari was signed by the UFC 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.[12] The UFC terminated the Agreement due to a doping ban handed down by the international amateur wrestling governing body, as well as US sanctions.[13]
In August 2020 news broke that Aliakbari had signed with the ONE Championship.[14] He was scheduled to make his promotional debut against Islam Abasov at ONE Championship: Big Bang on December 4, 2020.[15] However, Abasov withdrew from the fight after being detained following a road incident in his native Russia.[16]
Aliakbari faced Kang Ji Won at ONE Championship: Fists of Fury 2 on March 5, 2021.[17] In a huge upset, Aliakbari lost to Kang by first-round knockout.[18]
Aliakbari faced Anatoly Malykhin at ONE Championship: Revolution on September 24, 2021.[19] He lost the bout, getting knocked unconscious again in the first round.[20]
Aliakbari faced Mauro Cerilli at ONE on Prime Video 1 on August 27, 2022.[21] He won the fight via technical knockout in the second round, earning his first promotional victory.[22]
Aliakbari faced the former ONE Heavyweight World Champion Brandon Vera on December 3, 2022, at ONE 164.[23] He won the fight by a first-round technical knockout.[24]
Aliakbari faced Dustin Joynson on July 15, 2023, at ONE Fight Night 12.[25] He won the fight by first-round submission due to strikes.[26] The victory also earned him a Performance of the Night bonus.[27]
Aliakbari faced Arjan Bhullar on March 1, 2024, at ONE 166.[28] He won the fight via disqualification due to Bhullar's timidity in round three.[29]
|-|Win|align=center|14–3|Arjan Bhullar|DQ (timidity)|ONE 166||align=center|3|align=center|4:50|Lusail, Qatar||-|Win|align=center|13–3|Dustin Joynson|TKO (submission to punches) |ONE Fight Night 12||align=center|1|align=center|1:48|Bangkok, Thailand||-|Win|align=center|12–3|Brandon Vera|TKO (elbows and punches)|ONE 164||align=center|1|align=center|3:37|Pasay, Philippines||-|Win|align=center|11–3|Mauro Cerilli|TKO (elbows)|ONE on Prime Video 1||align=center|2|align=center|4.02|Kallang, Singapore||-| Loss| align=center|10–3| Anatoly Malykhin | KO (punches)|ONE: Revolution||align=center|1 |align=center|2:57 |Kallang, Singapore||-| Loss| align=center|10–2| Kang Ji-won | KO (punch)| ONE: Fists of Fury 2| | align=center|1| align=center|1:54| Kallang, Singapore| |-| Win|align=center| 10–1|Shelton Graves|TKO (punches)|ACA 93||align=center|1|align=center|4:44|Saint Petersburg, Russia||-| Win|align=center| 9–1|Daniel Omielańczuk|Decision (unanimous)|ACB 89||align=center|3|align=center|5:00|Krasnodar, Russia||-| Win|align=center| 8–1|Denis Smoldarev|TKO (elbows and punches)|ACB 83||align=center|1|align=center|2:25|Baku, Azerbaijan||-| Win|align=center| 7–1|Tyler King|TKO (punches)|Rizin 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 2017 in Yokohama: Sakura||align=center|1|align=center|3:34|Yokohama, Japan||-| Loss| align=center|5–1| Mirko Cro Cop| KO (punches)| rowspan=2|Rizin World Grand Prix 2016: Final Round| rowspan=2|| align=center|1| align=center|2:03| rowspan=2|Saitama, Japan| |-| Win| align=center|5–0| Valentin Moldavsky| Decision (split)| align=center|2| align=center|5:00| |-| Win| align=center | 4–0| Heath Herring| 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| Yokohama, 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, Thailand||-[30]
! colspan="8" | World Championships matches|-! Res.! Record! Opponent! Score! Date! Event! Location! Notes|-! style=background:white colspan=9 | |-| Win| 14–1| align=left | 
Heiki Nabi| 4–0| 2013-09-16| 2013 World Wrestling Championships| style="text-align:left;" | 
Budapest, Hungary| style="text-align:left;" | |-| Win| 13–1| align=left | 
Riza Kayaalp| 4–1| 2013-09-16| 2013 World Wrestling Championships| Budapest, Hungary| style="text-align:left;" | |-| Win| 12–1| align=left | Eduard Popp| 7–0| 2013-09-16| 2013 World Wrestling Championships| style="text-align:left;" | Budapest, Hungary| style="text-align:left;" | |-| Win| 11–1| align=left | 
Johan Euren| 7–0| 2013-09-16| 2013 World Wrestling Championships| style="text-align:left;" | Budapest, Hungary| style="text-align:left;" | |-| Win| 10–1| align=left | 
Oleksandr Chernetskyi| 3–1F| 2013-09-16| 2013 World Wrestling Championships| style="text-align:left;" | Budapest, Hungary| 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, Russia| style="text-align:left;" | |-| Win| 8–1| align=left | Aslanbek Khushtov| 1–0, 1–0| 2010-09-06| 2010 World Wrestling Championships| style="text-align:left;" | Moscow, Russia| 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;" | Moscow, Russia| style="text-align:left;" | |-| Win| 6–1| align=left | 
Mohamed Abdelfatah| 1–0, 1–0| 2010-09-06| 2010 World Wrestling Championships| style="text-align:left;" | Moscow, Russia| 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;" | Moscow, Russia| 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| style="text-align:left;" | Herning, Denmark| style="text-align:left;" | |-| Loss| 3–1| align=left | Balázs Kiss| 1–0, 0–5, 0–1| 2009-09-26| 2009 World Wrestling Championships| style="text-align:left;" | Herning, Denmark| style="text-align:left;" | |-| Win| 3–0| align=left | 
Alin Alexuc-Ciurariu| 2–0, 1–0| 2009-09-26| 2009 World Wrestling Championships| style="text-align:left;" | Herning, Denmark| style="text-align:left;" | |-| Win| 2–0| align=left | Kaloyan Dinchev| 3–0, 3–0| 2009-09-26| 2009 World Wrestling Championships| style="text-align:left;" | Herning, Denmark| style="text-align:left;" | |-| Win| 1–0| align=left | Jesper Viholt| 5–0, 4–0| 2009-09-26| 2009 World Wrestling Championships| style="text-align:left;" | Herning, Denmark| style="text-align:left;" | |-