The Iranian is a monster of man with phenomenal strength and wrestling ability and will seek to use those physical attributes against an opponent he says is one dimensional.
“He’s got great hands, especially an overhand, and he’s strong,” Aliakbari said. “But he’s a one-dimensional fighter who only has one round in him. The strategy is the same. Pass him, hit him, wrestle him and take him into the deep waters.
“He doesn’t have the wrestling credentials or experience to compete with me. Although this is an MMA fight, I will mix my wrestling creatively with my punching and control the fight.”
After losing his first two fights upon arrival in ONE, Aliakbari returned to the winning column last time out and feels well prepared to build on that momentum.
“The first two losses have a long history that many are unaware of,” he explained. “I’m not going to get into that now and make excuses, but the first year was filled with a lot of issues that caused a lot of health problems for me. Now I’m back stronger than ever.
“Thank God we had a great camp and were able to prepare well for this fight. We look forward to a great performance. We feel a lot better than before our previous fights as we feel healthy and in good spirits.”
Aliakbari isn’t sure what would happen next should he win this weekend, but is eager to avenge a loss to the current interim heavyweight champion and the man who went for gold in the ONE Fight Night 5 this weekend light heavyweight will fight. Anatoly Malykin.
“I’m concentrating on Vera for now. We’ll discuss what happens next in the cage after I win,” he said. “All I can say is that me and Malikhyn have unsettled business.”
We’ll see if he makes the first move to settle this deal this weekend.
ONE 164: Pacio vs. Brooks will be held on Saturday, December 3rd at 2:30pm GST at the Mall Of Asia Arena in Manila. This is an event not to be missed, so mark your calendars, download the ONE Super App and go to watch.onefc.com now!
