After storming into lightweight contention in ONE Championship, Halil Amir will now turn his attention to the featherweight division after ONE Fight Night 22 on Friday, May 3, Amir will move down to take on Akbar Abdullaev.
For Amir, he believes the move will make the best use of his physical presence inside the ring.
“I’m not a big lightweight, and I think in this weight class, I’ll be faster and stronger,” Amir related to ONE.
“My opponent, Akbar, is a good fighter. He has explosive kicks, and he’s a classic kickboxer. His strong point is obvious – his striking technique.”
“No Mercy” is 3-0 in the organization, with two finishes by KO/TKO. He has proven his power can stop the best lightweights, but he wants to be even more dangerous at featherweight.
He plans to keep the record perfect and become an instant title contender with another emphatic finish.
“I don’t have a special plan for him. I will enter the ring and move forward, as always,” the Turkish star said.
“My goal is to finish him. If I cannot succeed, I’ll do everything in my power to make the referee raise my hand.”
“After my victory, I want to fight for the belt or with someone from the top five rankings.”
In preparation for the move, Amir has even trained with one of the greatest talents to ever compete in MMA, Khabib Nurmagomedov.
After traveling to Dagestan, the 29-year-old was able to continue his evolution as a martial artist and improve his complete arsenal.
“Khabib did several training sessions. For me, it was a very good experience. He has hard training at his school,” Amir said.
“Khabib always has strict discipline during training. Naturally, the work was focused on wrestling and grappling.”
“As a person, he is a very simple person. He is often immersed in training and helps his team and, of course, he was also pushing me during the training sessions.”
ONE Fight Night 22 airs live on Prime Video on Friday, May 3. The event is free for all Amazon Prime members based in the U.S. and Canada and begins at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.