Akbar Abdullaev may not have taken home ONE Championship gold after beating Tang Kai on Saturday in Bangkok – but he still feels like the real champion.
After a close opening round, the 27-year-old Kyrgyzstani dominated the featherweight MMA champion for the rest of their fight and secured a fifth-round TKO at Lumpinee Stadium.
He would have been showered in gold ticker tape while the belt was being draped over his shoulder – had he not failed to pass a hydration test during the official weigh-ins on Thursday.
“It is unfortunate of course, but it’s all up to the higher power,” Abdullaev told the Bangkok Post backstage after his win. “So whatever is meant to be is going to be.”
Abdullaev then channeled a famous soundbite from former UFC champion Charles Oliveira, who suffered a similar situation in 2022.
“And I would just like to say, the champion has a name, and it is Akbar,” he added.
A timeline for a rematch is uncertain, but “Bakal” is confident he will soon be holding the belt.
“I’m going to take a little break to recover and get myself back together, and then we’re going to come back to get the gold,” he said.
Abdullaev had been one of six fighters to fail hydration for the event, but his mistake was the most costly – ruling him out of being eligible to win the title in the main event.
“This kind of thing happens, I’ve never had this problem before,” he said. “I was able to make weight but then with the hydration, that’s where I really messed up.”
Abdullaev is now undefeated in 12 professional fights, and had the better of China’s Tang in every department on Saturday.
“It would be very interesting to see what Tang Kai would do in the next fight against me,” he added.
“I don’t want to look too far in the future because we never know what’s going to happen – I might not be here tomorrow. We leave this up to a higher power, but I would like to see Tang Kai again and take home the belt.
“I think I was able to prove today, even though we didn’t take the gold, that I’m a very strong fighter – that I’m the best fighter, and it proves our people [from Kyrgyzstan] are very, very strong people.”