Abdul-Aziz Abdulvakhabov

The fighter was born in the village of Sernovodsky, the administrative center of the Sernovodsky district, located in the west of the Chechen Republic. From the age of 7 years, he began to get involved in sports. As a child, little Aziz was fond of football - like the rest of the rural boys, he played the ball with pleasure. The desire to become a wrestler appeared in Abdulvakhabov in his teens. An older brother played a big role in this, who taught the younger ones to play sports and box. At that time, hostilities were taking place in Chechnya, therefore, despite the desire of Abdul-Aziz to engage in wrestling, he did not have the opportunity for this.^[2]

Abdul-Aziz decided to get an education in Moscow, where he moved at the age of 17. Abdulvakhabov entered the Faculty of Law and combined his studies with training in freestyle wrestling. A year later, Abdul-Aziz, following the advice of his brother, began to engage in hand-to-hand combat. A month later, the coach put the young athlete to the championship of the Moscow region, where the Chechen won. After spending 2 years on the mats, the fighter met Akhmed Musaev, from whom he received and accepted an offer to start practicing hand-to-hand combat and combat sambo.^[3]

A year and a half after the start of training with a new coach, Abdul-Aziz began his journey in mixed martial arts with a one-day tournament from the ProFC organization, where he beat Salim Kaslukov, but in the second fight he was defeated by unanimous decision from Magomed Alkhasov, who was more experienced at that time. Upon his return to canvas, he began to actively close this defeat and, under the sign of various promotions, winning 3 victories in 2 months, after which he took a break for a year and a half. After 2 more victories, and then completely signed up for the ACB organization.^[2]

April 6, 2014 was a special date for Abdulaziz. On this day, his first fight took place in the ACB promotion (since 2018 - ACA). The fighter refused to participate in the first round, as he was seriously injured the day before. But Abdulvakhabov was still destined to get there: a fighter dropped out of the second round of the tournament, and Aziz had recovered his health by that time and came on as a substitute. The rival was Islam Makoev at ACB 5, who did not have a single defeat on his account. The fight was difficult for both athletes, but the judges unanimously gave the victory to Aziz, who advanced to the semifinals. In the semi-finals at ACB 7, he would go on to defeat Rasul Ediev in the second round, submitting him with a guillotine.^[1]

During this time, it became clear that the fighter's injury was severe and required surgery. Despite this, the athlete continued to participate in the competition. In the final duel Abdulvakhabov met with an experienced fighter Ali Bagov at ACB 9. In the third round, Aziz knocked out Bagov with a spinning back kick and received the ACB Lightweight Championship.^[4] After that, Abdul-Aziz took a break for a year to improve his health and rehabilitate.

The return of the athlete was bright - a victory over Vadim Rasul at ACB 17.^[5] The next to fall were Zulfikar Usmanov at ACB 22 and Julio Cesar De Almeida at ACB 27. These fights were not title fights, so Aziz still had the belt.

The first defense of the champion title in the lightweight category took place in Moscow at ACB 32. The rival of the Chechen was Eduard Vartanyan, who he defeated via TKO stoppage in the first round.^[6][7]

In 2016, within the framework of ACB 48, Abdul-Aziz rematched Ali Bagov. From the first minutes of the fight, Ali was in the lead, but he did not go to the second round for health reasons.^[8] During this fight, Aziz's old injury also made itself felt. The fighter's knee was operated on, and for a long time he was in rehabilitation.

A year later, the main event of ACB 77 was the fight between Abdulvakhabov and Eduard Vartanyan. For the first time in Aziz's career, an exhausting duel lasted all the prescribed five rounds. The victory was awarded to the defending champion, and he retained the title.^[9][5]

In 2018, the third meeting of Abdul-Aziz and Ali Bagov took place as part of the ACB 89 competition. In the title fight, the champion lost to his opponent in a close bout via majority decision, and the belt went to Bagov.^[10]

The following year, Abdul-Azis was booked to face Marcin Held at ACA 92, but he was replaced by Brian Foster, who was submitted via arm-trainle choke in the first round,^[11] and then Imanali Gamzatkhanov at ACA 99, who followed in the footsteps of the American, being submitted via rear-naked choke in the second round.^[12]

In 2020, Abdulvakhabov got a chance to reclaim the title against Alexander Sarnavsky at the ACA 111, which the Chechen won via unanimous decision to win the bout and regain the belt.^[13]

Abdulvakhabov defended his title against former UFC veteran Hacran Dias on November 5, 2021, at ACA 131: Abdulvakhabov vs. Dias.^[14] He won the close bout via split decision.^[15]

An ACA Lightweight Championship unification bout between Abdulvakhabov and interim champion Mukhamed Kokov at ACA 162. ^[16] However, for health reasons the bout was postponed to ACA 164 on October 4. ^[17]

The bout against Kokov was rescheduled for ACA 164: Abdulvakhabov vs. Kokov on October 4, 2023 as part of the 2023 ACA Lightweight Grand Prix Quarterfinal. Abdulvakhabov unified the title and advanced to the semi-finals, stopping Kokov in the second round after dropping Kokov with an elbow against the fence and then winning by ground and pound TKO.^[18]

• Absolute Championship Akhmat
  • ACA Lightweight Championship (Two Times, current)
    • Five successful title defenses (overall)
      • Three successful title defenses (first reign)
      • Two successful title defenses (second reign)

^[19]

• List of current ACA fighters
• List of male mixed martial artists

• Professional MMA record for Abdul-Aziz Abdulvakhabov from Sherdog